Exploring Local Areas, Skills and
Unemployment
Employer Case Studies
Terence Hogarth
Chris Hasluck
David Devins
Steve Johnson
Chris Jacobs
Terence Hogarth or Chris Hasluck
Institute for Employment Research
University of Warwick
COVENTRY, CV4 7AL
Tel: 02476-524420
David Devins or Steve Johnson
Policy Research Institute
Leeds Metropolitan University
LEEDS, LS6 3QS
Tel: 0113-283-1747
March 2003
CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
iv
CONTACT DETAILS
v
GLOSSARY
vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
vii
1
Introduction
1
1.1
Introduction
1
1.2
The relationship between vacancies, skills, and unemployment at the
local level
2
1.2.1 An ‘apparent paradox’?
2
1.2.2 UV Curves at the local level
6
1.2.3 Explaining an apparent paradox at the local level
6
1.3
Aims and objectives of the ELASU study
8
1.4
Structure of report
9
2.
Three labour markets
10
2.1
Introduction
10
2.2
Birmingham/Solihull
12
2.3
East London
12
2.4
Lancashire
13
2.5
Selection of case study establishments
13
2.6
Key points
14
3.
The demand for and supply of skills
15
3.1
Introduction
15
3.2
The nature of skills demanded by employers
15
3.3
Demand for technical skills
17
3.4
Demand for generic skills
20
3.5
Evidence of mismatches in supply and demand
22
3.6
Key points
23
i
4.
Explaining recruitment problems
24
4.1
The reasons for recruitment problems
24
4.2
Typology of causes
24
4.3
External factors affecting recruitment
26
4.4
Internal factors affecting recruitment
27
4.4.1 The recruitment process
27
Importance of informal methods
28
Advertising internally
30
Formal methods of application
31
4.4.2 Terms and conditions of employment
32
4.4.3 Labour retention
33
4.4.4 Training and development
34
Induction training
35
Training and development
36
4.4.5 Identifying new sources of labour supply
37
4.5
Policy factors
38
4.6
Key points
38
5.
Consequences of recruitment problems
40
5.1
Responses to recruitment problems
40
5.2
Understanding the real impact of recruitment problems
40
5.3
Persistence of recruitment problems
41
5.4
Avoiding future recruitment problems
42
6.
Unemployed and economically inactive people
44
6.1
Targeted recruitment of unemployed people
44
6.2
The role of the Jobcentre
45
6.3
Equal opportunities and recruitment
46
6.4
Employer perceptions and experiences of unemployed people
47
6.5
Employer experiences of New Deal
48
6.6
Key points
48
ii
7.
Conclusion
50
7.1
Skills mismatch
50
7.2
Inefficient operation of local labour markets
50
7.3
Occupational and/or geographical immobility
51
7.4
Wages and conditions of employment
51
7.5
Training and development
51
7.6
Other factors suggested by the qualitative study
51
7.7
Implications for policy
52
ANNEX A: CASE STUDY ESTABLISHMENTS
54
Figures
Figure 1.1 A simple UV curve
4
Figure 1.2 The dynamic UV curve
5
Figure 1.3 A cross-sectional analysis of UV in local labour markets
7
Figure 4.1 Causes of hard-to fill vacancies
24
Figure 5.1 Impact of Recruitment problems on organisational performance
41
Tables
Table 1.1: Incidence of recruitment problems, 2001
1
Table 1.2: Occupational distribution of recruitment problems, 2001
1
Table 2.1: LLSC areas with higher average rates of unemployment and
recruitment problems
10
Table 2.2: Characteristics of the local labour markets in three areas in 2001
11
Table 3.1: Skills and experiences
occupational group
17
required
by
recruiters
by
broad
Table 3.2: Extent of skill mismatches by broad occupational group
23
Table 4.1: Typology of recruitment problems based on case study evidence
25
Table 6.1: Characteristics of people recruited to selected hard-to-fill
vacancies
48
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study has benefited substantially from the advice and guidance at various
stages of the study’s development from members of the steering group:
Bruce Byrne (DfES)
Vikki Caulfield (DfES, project manager)
Lesley Giles (DfES)
Atul Patel (LSC)
Geoffrey Shoesmith (DfES)
Carol Stanfield (DfES)
Iain Fisher (Jobcentre Plus).
At IER, Rob Wilson was responsible, with Terence Hogarth, for the overall
management of the ELASU study. He commented on various drafts of this report for
which we are thankful. Anne Green at IER also provided helpful comments with
efficiency and goodwill. W.W. Daniel provided much helpful advice and timely
reminders of the results from previous studies which has much improved the current
report. Professor Mike Campbell was involved in the early stages of the research
and provided much helpful advice at the design stage.
A large vote of thanks must go the many employers who obligingly gave time to the
research team to talk about their skill needs and recruitment practices. Without their
help the research would not have been possible.
The responsibility for the report rests solely with the authors.
iv
CONTACT DETAILS
Terence Hogarth/Chris Hasluck
Institute for Employment Research
University of Warwick
COVENTRY, CV4 7AL
t.hogarth@warwick.ac.uk
c.hasluck@warwick.ac.uk
Tel:
02476-524420
David Devins/Steve Johnson
Policy Research Institute
Leeds Metropolitan University
LEEDS, LS6 3QS
D.Devins@lmu.ac.uk
S.G.Johnson@lmu.ac.uk
Tel: 0113-283-1747
v
GLOSSARY
Hard-to-fill vacancies (HtFVs) are those vacancies classified by the respondent as
hard-to-fill.
Skill-shortage vacancies (SSVs) were defined as hard-to-fill vacancies which were
skill related where at least one of the following causes was cited by the respondent:
low number of applicants with the required skills, lack of work experience the
company demands, or lack of qualifications the company demands.
Recruitment problems or difficulties refer to either hard-to-fill or skill-shortage
vacancies.
Skill gaps, or internal skill gaps, is the extent to which employers perceive their
employees’ current skills as insufficient to meet current business objectives.
Respondents in the ESS surveys were asked to comment on an occupation-byoccupation basis about the extent to which employees were ‘fully proficient at their
current job’. In order to gauge the extent of skill gaps survey respondents were
asked:
What proportion of your existing staff at this establishment in [a particular occupation] would
you regard as being fully proficient at their current job: all, nearly all, over half, some but
under half, very few?
Skill deficiencies refer to the sum of skill gaps and skill shortage vacancies.
Establishment based measures provide an estimate of the total number of
establishments reporting a given skill deficiency.
Employee based measures weight establishment data by the total number of
employees at the establishment.
Weighting is undertaken to adjust for sample design and non-response to ensure
that the survey results are representative of the population of employers. Weighted
data are also grossed up to population estimates in the weighted base provided in
each table.
Weighted base refers to the base for percentages according to whether it has been
weighted according to the employee or employer based measure.
Unweighted base refers to the raw survey data.
Employers Skill Survey 2001 (ESS2001) provides comparative data for England
relating to vacancies, HtFVs, and training activity. This was a survey funded by the
Department for Education and Skills (DfES), undertaken on their behalf by IFF and
IER, and included 27,000 interviews with employers. ESS was also conducted in
1999 (ESS1999). A smaller scale survey was undertaken in 2002 by IES and MORI.
Exploring Local Areas, Skills, and Unemployment (ELASU) project is concerned
with understanding the relationship between the incidence of relatively high
unemployment rates and hard-to-fill vacancies at the local level.
Local Learning and Skill Councils (LLSC): refers to the areas covered by the 47
local arms of the national Learning and Skill Council.
vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Exploring local areas, skills, and unemployment
Despite the economy nearing full employment there remain a substantial number of
people registered as unemployed, often concentrated in specific localities. At the
same time, the Employers Skill Surveys (1999, 2001, and 2002) point to a number of
employers with hard-to-fill vacancies (HtFVs).
The survey evidence has revealed many of these HtFVs to be in relatively low skilled
jobs suggesting that they can be potentially filled by anyone. In other words, the
skills required to fill the jobs are general, low level ones possessed by the majority of
the working age population.
The relationship between the relatively high rates of unemployment and HtFVs has
been described as a paradox - that in some way the labour market is not operating
as expected – but there are a number of plausible explanations of the observed
behaviour:

that there is a mismatch in the skills required by employer and those available in
the local labour market;

there is a mismatch in the personal attributes required by employers and those
available in the local labour market;

in particular the mismatch arises because the industries making people
redundant are such that the flow of people becoming unemployed are not suited
(because they do not possess the skills or personal attributes) to those industries
that are recruiting staff;

the terms and conditions of employment (e.g. wage levels) are too low to attract
applicants suitable for recruitment;

in relation to above point, the poverty or benefits trap acts as a disincentive to
unemployed people applying or taking a job;

the role of the informal economy where wages are paid cash-in-hand;

employers look to find alternative sources of labour – e.g. retired people – to fill
their vacancies.
Based on case study analysis of employers’ recruitment practices in three local
labour markets exhibiting relatively high levels of unemployment and hard-to-fill
vacancies explanations of the apparent paradox are explored.
Comparison of three areas
Three local and Learning and Skill Council areas were identified from ESS2001 with
relatively high levels of hard-to-fill vacancies and unemployment:

Birmingham/Solihull;

East London; and

Lancashire.
There are similarities between the three areas in the levels of recruitment problems
and unemployment they suffer from. There are differences as well.
vii
London provides an example of an area that has experienced strong economic
growth but has pockets of urban deprivation side by side with some of the most
affluent areas in the world. Birmingham and Solihull has a legacy of manufacturing
employment that has been in long-term decline, while many of the new job
opportunities are in the service sector. Lancashire encounters similar problems to
Birmingham/Solihull, except that the rural location of recruitment problems is much
more of an issue. Despite these differences, all three areas tended to report similar
responses to the extent, causes, and implications of skill deficiencies and how the
unemployed might help alleviate recruitment problems.
Imbalances in skills supply and demand of skills
Difficulties recruiting technical skills arose mainly in relation to higher skilled
occupations. At the very highest occupational levels employers reported that a mix
of generic and technical skills were essential for would be applicants. People in
these jobs needed the technical mastery of their chosen occupation, but this needed
to be allied to management, leadership, and team building skills.
For other types of skilled job, such as fitters in the engineering industry, employers
were willing to recruit employees so long as they possessed the technical skills
required. Generic skills were a bonus, but given the nature of skill supply in the local
economy, employers were content if they obtained only the technical skills they
required.
With regard to the lower level occupations the demand was much more for a range
of generic skills and personal attributes. The indication here was that employers
were often looking for personality traits as well as generic skills, but it needs to be
recognised that there is a substantial crossover between these. With respect to
generic skills, employers reported that it was difficult to find people with, for example,
good communication and customer handling skills.
Explaining hard-to-fill vacancies
Hard-to-fill vacancies arose in some instances as a consequence of pay and
conditions being unable to attract staff of the calibre required. Typically these were
reported by employers with vacancies for unskilled/semi-skilled jobs where the tasks
could be learnt by doing during induction training. Hard-to-fill vacancies for higher
level occupations were explained more with respect to an absolute shortage of the
skills required in the labour markets in which they attempted to recruit.
Arguably, better pay and conditions would attract applicants of the quality required,
but this would tend to stimulate competition between employers for the existing stock
of employees. Employers in all three areas reported that there was already strong
competition between employers for staff hence the need to pay attention to retention
as well as recruitment.
Responses to recruitment problems
Employers often tended to ‘muddle through’ in response to recruitment problems,
that is they made the best of available resources but do not significantly alter their
behaviour in response to recruitment problems.
In many respects, employers were implicitly looking to recruit people who were
already employed. The ideal was to recruit people who were already employed in
the same job, but the evidence demonstrates that this was exceedingly hard to
achieve.
viii
Other employers had begun to change their human resource policies. More
attention was devoted to maintaining levels of staff retention (for example offering
more flexible hours of work), or providing greater training and development
opportunities. Some employers reasoned that if it was impossible to recruit fully
experienced skilled workers, the only alternative was to train their own to the
required standard. This also offered some form of career progression and was
mutually supporting of labour retention policies.
Unemployed and economically inactive people
Where employers referred to unemployed people they were mainly talking about the
long-term unemployed, but it was not clear how employers defined ‘long-term’.
Unemployed people were considered as a potential source of employees by many
employers - or rather they would not discriminate against someone just because they
were unemployed - but in reality relatively few employers thought that the
unemployed were a realistic source of the type of labour they were looking for. More
attention was paid to the economically inactive and the capacity of retired workers
and ‘women returners’ to fill jobs.
Although employers reported that they would not automatically disqualify someone
from being recruited just because they were unemployed, there appeared to be
formidable hurdles the unemployed person would need to clear, regardless of their
skills, should they seek employment. For instance:

recruitment practices that favour informal methods (word-of-mouth, use of
business networks) mean that unemployed people might never be aware of a
vacancy;

a disinclination by employers to use the Jobcentre to advertise vacancies - one of
the principal sources for jobs for those signing on the unemployed register;

a perception by employers that unemployed people would not possess the skills
they required, by definition, of them being unemployed.
In conclusion
As the economy nears full employment there remain a substantial number of people
who remain unemployed (and long-term unemployed). Employers with recruitment
problems are unlikely to recruit a person who has been unemployed for long, even
though the skill levels they required are often quite rudimentary. In particular
unemployed people appeared to be without many of the generic skills employers
were looking for.
ix
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Despite the economy nearing full employment there remain a substantial number of
people registered as unemployed, often concentrated in specific localities. In the
Spring quarter of 2002, the ILO unemployment rate stood at 5.3 per cent which
corresponded to 1.6 million people. Most unemployment was of short duration: just
under a million people had been unemployed for six months or less, but just over a
quarter of unemployed people had been out of work for 12 months or longer. The
claimant count measure of unemployment stood at 3.2 per cent in May 2002 (just
under one million people). At the same time, the Employers Skill Surveys (1999,
2001, and 2002) point to a number of employers with hard-to-fill vacancies (HtFVs).
In 2001, of three quarters of a million vacancies ESS2001 estimated that around half
were HtFVs, and a fifth were skill-shortage related hard-to-fill vacancies (SSVs) (see
Table 1.1). The survey evidence has revealed many of these HtFVs to be in
relatively low skilled jobs suggesting that they can be potentially filled by anyone: just
under a half of all HtFVs were in less skilled occupations (personal service, sales,
operatives, and elementary occupations) (see Table 1.2). In other words, the skills
required to fill the jobs were general, low level ones possessed by the majority of the
working age population.
Table 1.1
Incidence of recruitment problems, 2001
%
establishments
Vacancies
HtFVs
SSVs
Source: ESS2001
No.
vacancies
(000s)
14
8
4
766
358
159
%
vacancies
%
employment
47
21
3.7
1.7
0.8
Table 1.2
Occupational distribution of recruitment problems, 2001
Occupation
Managers/Senior Officials
Professionals
Associate Professionals
Administrative/Secretarial
Skilled Trades
Personal Services
Sales/Customer Service
Operatives
Elementary occupations
HtFVs
Column
percentage
Density
4
11
17
7
16
11
13
9
13
0.4
1.5
3.5
0.8
3.1
2.6
1.7
1.5
2.7
SSVs
Column
percentage
Density
5
18
18
7
20
9
9
9
5
0.2
1.1
1.7
0.3
1.7
1.0
0.6
0.7
0.5
Total
100
1.7
100
Weighted Base
22,433
9,357
Unweighted Base
237,681
159,081
Source: ESS2001
Note: Density refers to HtFVs or SSVs expressed as a percentage of employment
0.8
1
Analysis of ESS1999 and ESS2001 data has further revealed that there are areas of
England that exhibit both relatively high levels of HtFVs and high levels of
unemployment (measured by either the claimant count, or the ILO definition) 1.
Comparing the incidence of HtFVs and SSVs by levels of unemployment at the local
level, the evidence suggests that higher level of occupations account for a higher
share of HtFVs and SSVs in areas of high unemployment compared to areas of
lower level unemployment2. At face value this suggests that the co-existence of high
levels of unemployment and recruitment problems is simply a consequence of the
mismatch between skills supplied and skills demanded. But even in areas of high
unemployment, the majority of HtFVs are associated with less skilled occupations.
The aim of the ‘Exploring Local Areas, Skills, and Unemployment’ (ELASU) project is
to understand the coexistence of relatively high levels of unemployment and HtFVs
at the local level (i.e. by local Learning and Skills Council (LLSC) areas) first
identified in ESS19993 and subsequently referred to as an ‘apparent paradox’4. In
short, why, when there is an unfilled demand for labour in some local areas, are
unemployed people apparently unable to fill these vacancies? This is an important
policy question: the capacity of the economy, as it nears full-employment, to provide
those most at risk of being unemployed (or remaining unemployed) with jobs. The
role of the New Deal - as the most important welfare to work programme designed to
re-connect the unemployed with the world of work 5,6,7,8 - is important here.
1.2
The relationship between vacancies, skills, and unemployment at the
local level
1.2.1 An ‘apparent paradox’?
Why should the co-existence of relatively high levels of unemployment and
recruitment problems at the local level be the ‘apparent paradox’ as identified in the
Skills in England report? To address this fully requires a reminder of classic labour
market theory first expounded in late 1940s and which still forms the basis of
analysis in this area today.
Arguably, the first to suggest a relationship between unfilled vacancies (V) and the
number of unemployed people (U) was Beveridge 9 and for that reason the inverse
UV relationship is often referred to as the Beveridge Curve. There was much
discussion of the UV relationship during the 1960s and early 1970s as it provided a
theoretical foundation for understanding the so-called Phillips Curve, another
empirical relationship this time concerning the relationship between the rate of wage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Green, A.E. and D. Owen Skills, Local Areas, and Unemployment, Nottingham, DfEE
Publications, 2001; Green, A.E. and D. Owen
Exploring Local Areas, Skills and
Unemployment, Nottingham, DfES Publications, 2002
Green and Owen, op cit
Green, A.E. and D. Owen Skills, Local Areas and Unemployment, Department for Education
and Skills, Nottingham, 2001
Campbell, M., S. Baldwin, S. Johnson, R. Chapman, A. Upton, and F. Walton, Skills in
England: Research Report, DfES/LSC Publications, Nottingham, 2001.
DfEE (1998) The Learning Age: A Renaissance for a New Britain. HMSO, London.
DfEE, DSS and HM Treasury (2001) ‘Towards full employment in a modern society’.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/fullemployment (accessed August 2002)
st
PIU, In Demand. Adult Skills in the 21 Century. A Performance and Innovation Unit Report,
Cabinet Office, December 2001
H.M. Treasury Developing Workforce Skills: Piloting a New Approach, April 2002.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
Beveridge W. H., Full Employment in a Free Society, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1948.
2
and price inflation and unemployment10. Beveridge believed that the UV relationship
was stable over time, but evidence from the 1960s and 1970s strongly suggested
that the relationship had shifted over time. This provided an explanation of the
phenomenon of ‘stagflation’ in which rising unemployment was accompanied with
accelerating inflation. The UV relationship was also used by Lipsey, amongst others,
as a means to distinguish between different types of unemployment (notably demand
deficient and frictional unemployment)11.
The theoretical basis for the UV relationship is that the level of both U and V are
determined by/are functions of the level of excess demand in the labour market. As
the labour market might be represented in the following way:
D=E+V
S=E+U
(where D is labour demand, S is labour supply,
E is employment, V is vacancies and U is
unemployment)
then excess demand,
D – S = V – U. In a simple labour market where all
workers are capable of instantaneously filling any vacancy, if D > S then V is positive
(and varies with the difference between D and S) while U=0 (since all the
unemployed fill up any available vacancy). Conversely, if D<S then V=0 and U is
positive (and varies with D-S). In this situation there would be no UV relationship in
the sense that there are either vacancies or unemployed but not both (the UV curve
corresponds to the axes of Figure 1.1). Of course such a situation is highly
unrealistic.
An observable relationship between U and V emerges as the result of frictions and
imperfections in labour market adjustment. The matching of people and jobs in the
market is neither instantaneous nor perfect. Some vacancies remain unfilled during
the period that employers search for suitable recruits. Similarly, unemployed people
remain jobless while searching for suitable job opportunities. The unemployment
and vacancies resulting from this search process is the result of ‘frictions’ in the job
matching process and gives rise to ‘frictional unemployment’ (and, logically, to
frictional vacancies also, although such a concept is rarely mentioned). Such
frictional U and V would eventually disappear as adjustment takes place were it not
for the fact that there is a continuous turnover in the jobs market as people change
or leave jobs and as jobs are lost and new ones created. In this situation there will
always be some unfilled job vacancies around and some unemployed people looking
for work. This is the situation represented in Figure 1.1.
In Figure 1.1, the ‘curve’ ABC’ represents the combinations of unemployment and
vacancies that exist as labour demand changes. U1 and V1 represent the frictional
levels of unemployment and vacancies when demand equals supply. In this
situation, there will be a continuous flow of people entering unemployment, a
continuous flow of new vacancies, and a flow of people recruited from
unemployment to a vacancy. The level of unemployment observed (U 1) is
determined by the number of people entering unemployment and the average length
of a spell of unemployment. The number of unfilled vacancies observed (V 1) is
10
11
Phillips A.W., ‘The relation between unemployment and the rate of change of money wage
rates in the United Kingdom, 1861-1957’, Economica 25, November 1958.
Lipsey R.G., ‘Structural and Deficient Demand Unemployment Reconsidered’, in A.M. Ross
(ed) Employment Policy and the Labour Market, University of California Press, 1965.
3
similarly determined by the flow of new vacancies and the average time taken to
recruit to a vacancy.
Figure 1.1
A simple UV curve
450
Vacancies
A
V1
B
C
U1
Unemployment
Figure 1.1 represents a rather static view of the jobs market (despite introduction of
the notion of continuous turnover). It is likely that employer and job seeker
behaviour will be affected by excess demand conditions in the labour market. Thus,
when there is a high level of excess demand and employers face severe recruitment
difficulties and mounting unfilled vacancies, they may raise wages or change their
hiring standards in an attempt to recruit. When this happens, job seekers will find
jobs more quickly than hitherto12, the duration of unemployment spells will fall and
the observed unemployment to a level that is less than U 1. This suggests a more
‘elastic’ relationship between U and V. As excess demand and the number of
vacancies increase, the number of unemployed will fall. This situation is illustrated
by Figure 1.2.
12
Job seekers enter jobs more quickly because they are more likely to find jobs that match their
reservation wage or they may be offered jobs that they might not previously have expected
given their level of work experience, skill of other qualities.
4
Figure 1.2
The dynamic UV curve
450
Vacancies
A
D
V2
V1
C
B
U2
U1
Unemployment
Figure 1.2 presents the UV curve as the outcome of a dynamic process. As the level
of labour demand increases beyond the level where U=V (and demand equals
supply), the number of vacancies on offer will increase and competition amongst
employers for recruits will intensify. Some of the additional vacancies will be
absorbed by the unemployed who will be unemployed for a shorter average time
than before the increase in demand. In this example, the increase in demand
reduces unemployment by (U1-U2) and is associated with an increase in unfilled
vacancies of (V2-V1). Had unemployment durations not fallen, the increase in
demand would simply have increased the number of unfilled vacancies, in this case
by an amount equal to the increase in vacancies (V2-V1) plus the number of
vacancies taken by unemployed people (U1-U2).
As indicated above, part of the accommodation of excess demand results from a
quicker job matching process. One element of this faster matching process may be
that employers change (lower) their hiring standards. As a consequence, job
seekers who at lower levels of demand would not be considered to possess
appropriate or sufficient skills may be matched to jobs they would not otherwise have
been offered. Clearly, there must be a limit to such substitution of the less
experienced/skilled for the more experienced/skilled, and this is one of the reasons
why the UV curve can be expected to be asymptotic (i.e. it approaches the axes but
never touches them) as there may be some job seekers for whom a match with a job
is simply impossible. Nonetheless, some substitution is likely at the margins since
skill and job suitability may be only partially objective qualities.
5
1.2.2 UV Curves at the local level
The logic of the UV relationship applies to any labour sub-market, such as
occupational jobs markets and local labour markets. Within each sub-market an
inverse relationship will exist between U and V. As occupational demand varies, or
as local labour market demand varies, so too will vacancies and unemployment. It is
likely that the nature of the UV relationship will be different in different sub-markets,
since the scale of frictions and mismatches may differ. In some, the UV curve may
be close to the origin and the relationship sharply non-linear (signifying few
frictions/mismatches) while in other the UV curve may be further from the origin
(signifying substantial levels of frictions/mismatch) or the gradient of the UV curve
(technically the rate of substitution of vacancies for unemployment) more gentle,
signifying greater scope for adjustment and the entry of unemployed people to job
vacancies at higher levels of labour demand. The aggregate, or national, UV
relationship will be the sum of all these individual UV curves and the national level of
U and V observed will reflect not only the underlying UV relationship but the
distribution of labour demand across the sub-markets.
The identification of UV relationships at the local level would require, ideally,
examination of time-series data on U and V in each local labour market. Such an
undertaking is feasible in that time series for both variables are available. The
difficulty such analysis faces is that the vacancy series (vacancies notified to the
Employment Service) is an imperfect measure of total vacancies and gives scant
information about the nature of the vacancy (apart from occupational title). The
ELASU project seeks to identify the UV relationship using data on unfilled vacancies
(from ESS1999 and ESS2001) and data on unemployment (from JUVOS). The
ESS1999 and ESS2001 provide much more complete and reliable coverage of
employers’ vacancies. The use of this data provides a cross-sectional view of local
labour markets at an approximate point in time.
Insofar as there is a different level of labour demand in each local labour market, U
and V will be at different points on the local UV curve. Plotting such observations on
a chart would reveal a picture rather like Figure 1.3. Each ‘x’ represents the
combination of U and V observed in a local labour market. If the UV relation was the
same in all local labour markets then all of the observations (x) would lie along the
UV curve and allow its identification. In practice such points will not correspond
perfectly with the underlying UV curve because of factors such as measurement
error in the data and random errors. In addition to these factors, the possibility exists
that the UV relationship is different in different local labour markets (reflecting
different levels of frictions and occupational mix). In this case the observations will
lie on the local UV curve but off the ‘average’ UV curve described by the data.
1.2.3 Explaining an ‘apparent paradox’ at the local level
The possibility of some local labour markets being significantly out of line with the
average (in terms of observed vacancies and unemployment) was raised by Green
and Owen13 in their report on ESS1999. An updated analysis based on ESS2001 is
a cornerstone of the ELASU project. In Figure 1.3, the level of vacancies in local
area A is much less than might have been expected on the basis of the number of
unemployed in the area. Similarly, in area B, there are far more vacancies than
might have been expected given the level of unemployment in the area and the
13
Green and Owen, op cit.
6
average relationship between U and V. The latter area reflects the so-called
‘paradox’ of large numbers of vacancies co-existing with large numbers of
unemployed job seekers.
Vacancies
Figure 1.3
A cross-sectional analysis of UV in local labour markets
x
x
x
x
x
x
B
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
A
Unemployment
Different UV relationships at a local level could arise simply because the industrial
and occupational mix of areas is different. The level of frictional unemployment in
different occupations and industries may vary and local UV experience will reflect
that mix. Alternately, the extent of mismatches might be different, with the structure
of local labour demand and local labour supply better matched in some places that
others, leading to higher combinations of U and V than elsewhere.
Theoretical analysis (and historical evidence) suggests that there is an inverse
relationship between unemployment and vacancies. Analysis of ESS1999 and
ESS2001 finds only a weak relationship between U and V when looking at a crosssection of local labour markets. Leaving aside the possibility that there is little or no
UV relationship (which is unlikely), this finding suggests that the UV relationship at
the local level is likely to be complex and probably reflects a range of other factors in
addition to local labour demand.
The ‘apparent paradox’ revealed in ESS1999 – the co-existence of relatively high
levels of unemployment and recruitment problems at the local level – might be
plausibly explained by a number of factors:

that there is a mismatch in the skills required by employer and those available in
the local labour market;
7

there is a mismatch in the personal attributes required by employers and those
available in the local labour market;

in particular the mismatch arises because the industries making people
redundant are such that the flow of people becoming unemployed are not suited
(because they do not possess the skills or personal attributes) to those industries
that are recruiting staff;

the terms and conditions of employment (e.g. wage levels) are too low to attract
applicants suitable for recruitment;

in relation to above point, the poverty or benefits trap acts as a disincentive to
unemployed people applying or taking a job;

the role of the informal economy where wages are paid cash-in-hand;

employers look to find alternative sources of labour – e.g. retired people – to fill
their vacancies.
Based on case study analysis of employers’ recruitment practices in three local
labour markets the above types of explanation are explored.
1.3
Aims and objectives of the ELASU study
In order to address the types of question posed above a multi-faceted research
design was deployed that included:

construction of a database containing ESS2001 data and supplementary labour
market indicators for each local Learning and Skills Council (LLSC) area;

analysis of the ESS2001 database to explore the relationship between
unemployment and HtFVs at the local LSC (LLSC) level14;

multivariate statistical analysis using the ESS2001 database to provide an
analysis of the determinants of vacancies and recruitment problems at national,
regional, and LLSC area levels15;

identification of LLSC areas that exhibited high levels of recruitment problems
and unemployment for further, intensive case study analysis;

case study analysis of around 100 establishments in the three LLSC areas –
Birmingham/Solihull, Lancashire, and East London – to understand the
processes that result in the co-existence of high levels of both unemployment and
recruitment problems;

synthesis of all the various components of the study.
This report provides the results from the case study element of the study conducted
jointly by the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research and the Policy
Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University.
The reasons for selecting three local areas for case study analysis is outlined in
Chapter 2. Because the case study element of the study was concerned primarily
with employers’ recruitment problems in relation to unemployed people, the focus of
many case studies was on less skilled occupations, although not exclusively. The
14
15
Green and Owen, op cit.
Dickerson, A.P., Exploring Local Areas Skills and Unemployment: the relationship between
vacancies and local unemployment, Nottingham, DfES Publications, 2003
8
reason for this was simply that the stock of unemployed people at any point in time is
comprised mainly of those whose last job was in a less skilled occupation. It is in
these types of occupation that technical skills, learnt over a period of formal training,
are less likely to be demanded by employers compared to generic ones. Hence
there is, at most, a modest skill hurdle to be cleared by applicants for these jobs.
The emphasis is also very much upon HtFVs generally rather than SSVs specifically,
so that a fully developed picture of why recruitment problems occur might be
obtained.
1.4
Structure of report
Chapter 2 provides information about the three labour markets in which the case
studies were conduced. Chapter 3 outlines the mismatch between demand and
supply that employers reported, while Chapter 4 looks that the underlying cause of
the mismatches. Chapter 5 addresses the impact of recruitment problems on
organisational performance. The potential for unemployed people to fill hard-to-fill
vacancies is outlined in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 draws together the conclusions
from the study.
9
2. THREE LABOUR MARKETS
2.1
Introduction
Further exploration of the reasons underlying the co-existence of relatively high
levels of unemployment and recruitment problems requires identification of areas
that exhibit this feature. Analysis of the ESS2001 database identified a small
number of LLSC areas with relatively high levels of unemployment and HtFVs or
SSVs (see Table 2.1). From the analysis of the ESS2001 database several LLSC
areas stood out as exhibiting both high levels of recruitment problems and high rates
of unemployment. Three have been chosen for further analysis:
 Birmingham/Solihull;
 East London;
 Lancashire.
These areas were selected not only because they met the initial recruitment criteria,
but because: (a) they also reported a relatively high number of establishments
reporting recruitment problems; and (b) they provided a broad north-midlands-south
mix. The inclusion of Lancashire also provided scope for a comparison of a more
rural area to the predominantly urban ones of East London and Birmingham/Solihull.
Table 2.1 LLSC areas with higher average rates of unemployment
and recruitment problems
Vacancy and
unemployment/non-employment
indicator combination
Density of skill-shortage vacancies
and claimant count unemployment
rate
Higher than average values on
both vacancy and
unemployment/non-employment
indicators
London East
Cumbria
Density of skill-shortage vacancies
and longer-term unemployment rate
London East
London Central
Density of skill-shortage vacancies
and ILO unemployment rate
London East
London Central
Cumbria
Lancashire
London East
London Central
Cumbria
Lancashire
Cumbria
Density of skill-shortage vacancies
and working age non-employment
rate
Density of hard-to-fill vacancies and
claimant count unemployment rate
Density of hard-to-fill vacancies and
longer-term unemployment rate
London Central
Density of hard-to-fill vacancies and
ILO unemployment rate
London Central
Cumbria
Density of hard-to-fill vacancies and
working age non-employment rate
London Central
Cumbria
Other areas worthy of
consideration
Birmingham/Solihull
Nottinghamshire
Lancashire
Staffordshire
London Central
Cumbria
Nottinghamshire
Lancashire
Birmingham/Solihull
Staffordshire
Birmingham/Solihull
Staffordshire
London Central
London East
London North
Birmingham/Solihull
London North
Birmingham/Solihull
London East
Cumbria
London North
Birmingham/Solihull
London East
London North
Birmingham/Solihull
London East
Source: Green and Owen 2002
10
The principal characteristics of the three areas, compared to those of the average
area in England, are outlined in Table 2.2. Details of the case studies carried out in
each labour market are provided in Annex A.
Whilst all three of the local labour markets are characterised by the co-existence of
relatively high levels of unemployment alongside a relatively high incidence of
recruitment problems, a number of other similarities and contrasts are apparent:

the claimant count measure of unemployment was historically low across all three
areas (as it was nationally) at the time of the study;

Birmingham/Solihull recorded the highest levels of unemployment and
recruitment problems of the three areas, suggesting that the degree of mismatch
is much more pronounced in this LLSC. Indeed, Birmingham/Solihull recorded
the highest ILO defined unemployment rate in England in 2001;

the industrial and occupational structures varied both in comparison to England
and between the three LLSC areas.
There are characteristics of the three LLSCs that are not captured by the information
in Table 2.2, and these are summarily discussed in the following sections.
Table 2.2
Characteristics of the local labour markets in three areas in 2001
Vacancies
% establishments reporting
vacancies
Number of vacancies
Hard-to-fill vacancies (HtFVs)
% establishments reporting HtFVs
HtFVs as a % of employment
Number of HtFVs
Birmingham/
Solihull
East London
Lancashire
England
33.8
18.5
18.3
14.5
21,098
56,901
12,340
768,929
17.2
1.67
7,940
10.5
1.70
15,526
9.2
1.35
6,568
7.5
1.73
355,943
Skill-shortage related HtFVs
(SSVs)
% establishments reporting SSVs
SSVs as a % of
employment Number of SSVs
Number of SSVs
6.3
0.67
7.2
1.12
5.8
0.90
3.7
0.77
3,170
10,210
4,371
158,056
Labour market indicators
Claimant unemployment rate (%)
Long-term unemployment rate (%)
ILO unemployment rate (%)
Non-employment rate (%)
5.8
2.9
9.3
34.4
4.7
2.1
8.2
34.1
3.4
1.0
5.1
26.7
3.4
1.3
5.1
25.2
Source: Green and Owen, 2001; ESS2001 (IER/IFF); NOMIS
11
2.2
Birmingham/Solihull
Birmingham/Solihull LLSC area is characterised by localities experiencing high levels
of economic growth – especially so around Birmingham International Airport and in
the city centre – alongside areas of considerable economic disadvantage. The
distance between these areas is often only a few miles, but the capacity of the latter
to supply labour to the former appears circumscribed by a number of factors, such as
transport links. This is a problem outlined in Advantage West Midlands’s Economic
Strategy and poses a problem with respect to the social cohesion and social
inclusion in the area.
Birmingham/Solihull has a strong manufacturing and engineering legacy. Although
the manufacturing sector has been in long-term decline, as elsewhere in England,
the level of replacement demand is still quite strong and a relatively large share of
employment is still concentrated in the industry. The problems that have beset the
Rover Group of companies - resulting in the Rover Task Force being established poses a number of possible threats to the industrial base over the medium-term,
especially so when the various supply-chain relationships are taken into account.
Despite the problems faced by manufacturing, the area has a number of industrial
strengths not least the development of a strong ICT (knowledge economy) base in
the Solihull area (that spreads into neighbouring Warwickshire). The ICT base, allied
to the substantial volume of foreign direct investment the West Midlands has been
able to secure, indicates segments of strong economic growth within the local area.
The case studies conducted in Birmingham/Solihull covered a mixture of skilled and
unskilled manual and non-manual jobs. These tended to reflect the industrial
composition of the area described above. As will be described in greater depth in
subsequent chapters, employers experienced problems: (a) finding skilled labour
even if the problem had lessened somewhat over the past 12 months; and (b)
difficulties finding a sufficiently large volume of people capable of filling a range of
semi-skilled jobs that could be learnt quickly through experience.
2.3
East London
London as a whole poses a number of puzzling questions about the operation of
labour markets. Arguably, London is the English economy’s powerhouse, the base
of much of the country’s high-skilled, highest-waged employment, drawing in labour
from many miles in all directions. The area chosen for case study analysis, East
London, borders the City of London, the world’s financial capital. Yet, as a whole,
the area experiences relatively high levels of unemployment, despite a strong
demand for labour.
Like Birmingham/Solihull, East London has a strong manufacturing legacy (not least
that of Ford at Dagenham), but the east end of London has been subject to massive
investment over recent years as the development of the City of London has spread
eastwards along the Thames.
The case studies again reflect, broadly, the employment opportunities in the area
including both service and production sector jobs across high- and low-skilled
occupations. The overall findings revealed that 12-18 months ago manufacturing
and construction workplaces had struggled to find skilled labour, but that currently
most were either not looking to recruit people or seeking to lay-off workers.
Respondents’ overall impressions were of redundant workers finding jobs quite
quickly, although many were often in non-skilled jobs. In contrast, many service
12
sector workplaces reported that the main problem was a shortage of labour willing to
fill the jobs on offer - rather than skills per se.
2.4
Lancashire
Lancashire is a large and economically diverse area with a mix of urbanised
industrial areas, rural, and coastal areas. The overall structure of the economy is
characterised by a significantly high rate of manufacturing employment (as
compared to the UK) and a dependence on large, often externally owned
companies. This situation contributes to lower productivity in the area (as measured
by GDP per head) as many of the manufacturing jobs are concentrated in low value
adding processes, in mature product industries, with low pay structures.
In local areas where low skilled, low value manufacturing predominate, housing
costs and therefore living costs are relatively low. Employment opportunities are
available which do not require advanced skills, but these employment opportunities
are often poorly remunerated and if they are not in close geographical proximity, low
rates of car ownership and an inadequate public transport infrastructure limit these
routes out of economic exclusion for local people.
Patterns of production are changing in response to global competition and this will
require a change in the portfolio of skills available in the local economy. Major
restructuring of the economy is forecast, with the proportion of the workforce
employed in manufacturing set to decline even further in the future. The majority of
these jobs are relatively well paid and currently held by men. This will present a
major challenge to Lancashire LSC and its partners in the years to come as they
seek to smooth the process of industrial change.
Case studies undertaken in Lancashire provided the opportunity to address issues
related to workplaces situated away from urban centres. Difficulties encountered by
employers were similar in many respects to those of Birmingham/Solihull except that
travel to work distances and the availability of transport was possibly more of an
issue because of the remote location of some workplaces.
2.5
Selection of case study establishments
The case study organisations were selected from those employers in each of the
three areas who had participated in ESS2001 and who had agreed in that survey to
participate in further research. In addition, a number of employers were selected
from the New Deal database to ensure that employers included in the case studies
had recruited unemployed people.
The selection of employers from ESS2001 only included those who reported the
existence of HtFVs rather than just the subset who reported SSVs. The reasons for
this were threefold. First, information was required about the full range of reasons
why recruitment problems arose, not just the skill-related reasons. Second,
ESS2001 defined SSVs in a limited manner – a shortage of applicants with the
required skills, qualifications, or experience demanded by the employer. SSVs as
defined in ESS2001, plausibly, might not capture all the skill related reasons for
recruitment problems arising; hence the focus on HtFVs. Third, the occupational
composition of HtFVs was such that unemployed people might be expected to fill
these vacancies.
The selection of employers for case study analysis is not necessarily representative
of any population of establishments. They were selected to provide further insights
13
into some of the puzzles that arose from analysis of ESS2001. ESS2001 provides
the representative source of analysis and the case study analysis was not designed
to contradict any of the findings from the survey. Taken together, however,
ESS2001 and the case study analysis begin to provide a detailed and rich source of
information about the nature of recruitment problems in England.
2.6
Key points
There are similarities between the three areas in the levels of recruitment problems
and unemployment they suffer from. There are differences as well. London
provides an example of an area that has experienced strong economic growth but
has pockets of urban deprivation side by side with some of the most affluent areas in
the world. Birmingham and Solihull has a legacy of manufacturing employment that
has been in long-term decline, while many of the new job opportunities are in the
service sector. Lancashire encounters similar problems to Birmingham/Solihull,
except that the rural location of recruitment problems is much more of an issue.
Despite these differences, all three areas tended to report similar responses to the
extent, causes, and implications of skill deficiencies and how the unemployed might
help alleviate recruitment problems.
14
3. THE DEMAND FOR AND SUPPLY OF
SKILLS
3.1
Introduction
Before going on to look at the reasons for the existence of recruitment problems in
each of the three areas, this chapter describes the types of recruitment problem
experienced by employers. This is addressed with respect to both occupation and
the different types of skills (both generic and technical).
Occupational group is a primary determinant of the nature of the recruitment
process. Senior executives are recruited in a different way to, say, bartenders or
janitors, but there may well be a number of common elements as well such as the
degree of informality or the importance of networks in communicating job openings.
If the relationship between the co-existence of relatively high levels of hard-to-fill
vacancies and unemployment is to be readily understood, attention needs to be
independently focused on (a) occupational group (b) the recruitment process.
Choice of occupational group was determined by the need to address those types of
vacancy that might be filled by unemployed people. From what is already known
about the skills, qualifications, and experience of most unemployed people, it will be
relatively less skilled, less well-paid jobs that they are equipped to fill in a majority of
instances. For this reason many of the occupations on which the case studies
concentrated were concerned with vacancies for personal service workers,
sales/customer service staff, assembly workers, or elementary jobs. At the same
time, the choice of occupation should not be such that it predetermines any
conclusions. People across all occupational groups may face the prospect of being
made redundant and their chances of finding work will be determined by the ability
of: (a) the jobs market to match people to vacancies; and (b) and the openness of
employers’ recruitment practices. To this end, observations have also been obtained
relating to skilled trades and associate professional vacancies, where possession of
technical skills is a key determinant of recruitment.
Understanding the mismatch needs to go beyond occupation and skills and address
the characteristics of those losing their jobs (such as older men working full-time in
the manufacturing sector) and compare these to the new jobs being created (service
sector ones with less than full-time hours, often aimed at young people or women
returning to work after childbearing). Given the nature of the study, this can be
assessed only from the employer’s perspective.
3.2
The nature of skills demanded by employers
Table 3.1 provides a summary of the qualifications, skills, and experiences required
by employers for each of the occupational groups for which they sought staff (Annex
A provides more detailed information). In general, and with the exception of
associate professional and skilled trades occupations, there were few specific
qualifications or skills required of staff for these posts. In specific personal service
occupations, such as hairdressing, qualifications and experience needed to be
demonstrated, but overall it was more a question of finding people who presented
themselves as keen and eager to work and who possessed basic skills, such as
numeracy and literacy. Induction training was provided in these instances to teach
people how to do the jobs for which they had been recruited. But often the content
15
of this training was quite limited, such that the skills employers were looking for were
essentially those that would allow the employee to undertake the job at more or less
full proficiency from the date of appointment or a short time afterwards.
It is useful to distinguish between technical (occupational specific ones) and generic
(transferable) skills, such as customer handling, communication, etc. To some
extent the distinction between these two types of skill is an artificial one with many
employers demanding a mix of skills. Nevertheless, from a policy perspective
knowing the extent to which skill mismatches occur as a consequence of shortages
of one type of skill or another provides vital information about where future training
investments are required.
Technical skills tend to be associated more with higher skilled jobs, although there is
often a technical skill aspect, albeit modest, to lower skilled jobs as well. As will be
discussed below the technical skills associated with lower skilled jobs could
frequently be learnt quite quickly so long as the applicant had the ‘right attitude’.
‘Right attitude’ in these instances referred to the individual applicant possessing a
mix of generic skills and, importantly, personality traits relating to appearance,
disposition, and enthusiasm.
Generic skills were important in relation to higher skilled jobs. For higher level
professional and associate professional jobs a mix of generic and technical skills
was required without which the applicant would not be able to fulfil the job on offer.
This often related to a mix of technical and management, leadership, and teambuilding skills. For more run-of-the-mill skilled occupations, especially those in
skilled trades, generic skills were often, though not always, regarded as the icing on
the cake. If the applicant possessed generic skills such as being able to
communicate well or being adept at handling customers then all well and good, but
most important was the possession of technical skills. The absence of generic skills,
however, resulted in a job not being effectively undertaken compared to where
employees had well-honed generic skills.
In lower skilled jobs, as noted above there was sometimes a technical skill to be
mastered, but these jobs mainly required generic skills coupled to a number of
desirable personal attributes (good time keeping, being clean and tidy, etc.).
16
Table 3.1
Skills and experiences required by recruiters by broad occupational group
Occupation
Associate
professionals
(e.g. account
executives,
computer staff)
Skilled trades
(e.g. electricians,
glaziers, etc)
Personal service
(e.g. hairdressers)
Qualifications
required
Degree
Professional
qualification
Modern
Apprenticeship
(MA) if not time
served
apprenticeship but examples of
MAs being
mentioned were
scarce
None, with some
exceptions (e.g.
hairdressers)
Skills required
Training
provided
Expected to be
fully competent
when employment
commences
Other comments
Time served
apprenticeship
Expected to be
fully competent
when employment
commence
Often skills
required specific
to the industry in
which firm located
Experience.
Some
occupations
required proof of
an
‘apprenticeship’
being served
Speak English
Induction training
plus some basic
skills
Experience in job
Sales/customer
service
None
Operatives
None
Experience in
manufacturing
environment
desirable
Elementary
None
None
Induction training/
Basic skills/
Training as a
legal requirement/
Generally learn by
doing
Induction training/
Training as a
legal requirement/
Generally learn by
doing
induction training/
Training as a
legal requirement/
Generally learn by
doing
Attitude,
punctuality, and
presentation
considered more
important than
particular skills
Some experience
preferable
Attitude,
punctuality, and
presentation
considered more
important than
particular skills
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
3.3
Demand for technical skills
There was – or had been recently - a strong demand for technical skills from
employers, particularly so in manufacturing but in other industries too. In all three
areas, manufacturers and construction companies reported that until quite recently
there had been a strong, unmet demand for various skilled trades: electricians,
fitters, glazers etc. In the same sectors there had also been a demand for associate
professional staff such as design engineers, draughtsmen, etc. Much of this demand
had fallen away in the manufacturing sector as it had gone into decline in response
to the slowdown in US economy. In these occupations (skilled trades and
17
technicians) the demand was principally for technical skills. Mention was made of
recruits needing to possess certain personal attributes but these were very much
secondary to the demand for technical skills. In part the emphasis on technical skills
reflected the content of the jobs on offer, but also it reflected the employers’
perceptions of the external labour market. Whilst it would have been desirable to
have recruited an individual with a range of personal attributes such as good
communication and team working skills, conditions in the labour marked did not
allow the employer to be so selective. If the potential recruit possessed technical
skills and little else this would have sufficed. The example of the robot machine tool
manufacturer in East London illustrates this point (see box).
Establishment L1: Machine tool manufacturer
East London
The company employed 35 staff producing a range of robots designed for the manufacture of
automatic telling machines. Over the past five years the company had experienced strong
growth, almost doubling its turnover and increasing in staff from around 20 to a peak of nearly
50 in early 2001.
The company had had vacancies for designers and electrical engineers (craft grade). Ideally,
the company wanted recruits who lived locally and had experience of working in a similar
environment. In practice it ended up recruiting people from Grimsby and Whitley Bay who
travelled home at weekends and who, by and large, had little experience of the machine tools
industry.
Provided the recruits could demonstrate their bona fides as craft engineers they were given the
job, even though in practice many lacked proficiency in the jobs they eventually filled.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
Taking people on without a desirable mix of generic skills or who did not possess the
‘right attitude’ but who nonetheless were technically competent was not without its
problems. It sometimes led to people being recruited who were not well suited to the
organisation and who could have an adverse impact on efficiency (see box).
Establishment B9: Window manufacturer
North Birmingham
The company was looking to recruit fabricators. Fabricators take pieces of plastic and, using
the designs for a particular order, bond the plastic together using glue and heat treatments.
The job is skilled and potentially dangerous. The company does not specify qualifications but
demands that applicants have relevant experience. It had proved exceedingly difficult to recruit
fabricators: last year there had been three vacancies for which there were three applicants and
only one appointment made.
The appointment made was not satisfactory. The employee possessed the skills and
experience the company required but he proved unsuitable in other respects. The fabricator, it
was reported knew how much the company needed his skills and exploited the situation. The
production manager continued: “He comes in late or not at all. He doesn’t work much when he
is in, but he knows that we need a skilled person, so we keep him on...I would be surprised if
he does a couple of days’ work a week, if that.” When the company was able to find other
skilled fabricators, the production manager said, this employee would be dismissed.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
18
At higher occupational levels, employers were looking for a mix of technical and
generic skills since both were necessary to fulfil a given job. This mix was often
exceedingly difficult to obtain. In the computer industry examples were recorded of
‘good people’ being reluctant to move jobs in an uncertain trading environment.
Uncertain trading conditions also had the impact in some instances of increasing the
skills demanded from would-be applicants. A public relations (PR) company, on the
outskirts of the City of London, reported that it had a number of vacancies for
account executives. It reported that there was a degree of uncertainty over job
security in the PR industry, such that a sizeable number of people were looking to
either move jobs into a more certain environment, or were looking for jobs following
redundancy. Typically an account executive required a range of technical and social
skills, but given the current state of the recruitment market the company felt that it
had the opportunity to ratchet upwards the skills required of would be recruits. The
reasons for this were twofold. If they were going to recruit in difficult trading
conditions the candidate would need to be exceptional in being able to thrive in that
environment. Moreover, because there was movement in the industry as some
people sought more secure employment, there was an increased possibility that the
company would be able to attract exceptional candidates. This had not worked out
quite as expected. Candidates of the quality required had not materialised and hardto-fill vacancies were, consequently, reported.
Though employers were looking for a combination of generic and technical skills
from their higher skilled recruits, they were sometimes willing to recruit candidates
below the required standard if they showed the potential to reach that standard
through training and development. But the standard had to be obtained quite quickly
after being recruited. The combination of technical and generic skills was referred to
in the ECISD research programme as hybrid skills16. The demand for these hybrid
skills has been demonstrated to be highest in sectors of the economy such as
telecommunications and engineering. Generally these skills proved difficult to recruit
because candidates for these jobs had to demonstrate that they possessed the mix
of skills, possibly just below the level the company wanted, but had the capacity to
reach the standard quickly. The example of software consultancy illustrates this
point (see box).
16
Hendry, C. et al., Employers Skill Survey: Telecommunications, DfEE Publications,
Nottingham, 2000; Davis, C., T. Hogarth, T. Buckley, and R. Shackleton, Employers Skill
Survey: Engineering, DfEE Publications, Nottingham, 2000
19
Establishment B2: Software consultancy
Solihull
The establishment employed 150 people in Solihull. They supplied bespoke software to a
number of manufacturing companies and former public utilities. Vacancies had existed for
nearly a year for two business development managers. The business plan had indicated a
need for more sales personnel with a good level of technical expertise who could sell software
solutions at board level.
Because of the centrality of the two jobs to the company meeting its business targets and the
possible damage to the company’s reputation if these people were not sufficiently skilled to
meet the job specification, there had to be a perfect match between that specification and the
persons recruited. This had not proved possible and the business plan had to be revised in the
light of this recruitment failure.
The company reported that it paid above average for the IT industry and there were various
performance related payments as well. Whilst wages were important in attracting people to the
company, it was reported, perceptions of job security were also important. Hence many of the
best people in the industry were reluctant to change jobs at the moment whilst the level of
business demand in the market was so weak.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
With reference to technical skills for skilled trades jobs, employers often complained
that applicants (and often recruits) did not possess these skills at the level or
standard required by the organisation. Occasionally this was discovered only after
appointment. This problem also arose in relation to agency staff. Resorting to
agencies was a consequence of employers finding it difficult to recruit skilled
personnel themselves. Agencies are sometimes better able to locate staff because
they have superior search techniques and/or they offer a wage premium.
Employers, especially manufacturers in East London, reported that where agencies
supplied labour this was not anywhere near the required standard, but this became
apparent only after they had been taken on.
Despite setting recruitment criteria based solely on possession of technical skills,
these proved difficult to obtain in the external labour market hence the resort to
employment agencies, many of who, it was reported, also experienced the same
recruitment problems as the companies to which they were supplying skilled labour.
3.4
Demand for generic skills
Recruitment amongst lower skilled occupational groups tended to relate more to
social skills or personal attributes. Some of these jobs often required some technical
competency – driving skills, hairdressing, and so on – but these were not considered
to be in as short supply as the range of more general, social skills required of
employees. Important here was the range of generic skills – many recorded in the
Employers Skill Survey - the most important of which included:

communication;

customer handling;

ability to get on with others;
20

customer service;

driving (not PGV or HGV, just and ordinary driving licence required);

diligence (a willingness to take care that a task is completed as requested);

time keeping, reliability, attitude and willingness to learn;

ability to read and write, to understand and follow safety instructions, were
prerequisites for much employment (often 'tested' through application form).
An illustration of the skills required in personal service jobs is provided by a transport
support company in Birmingham/Solihull (see box).
Establishment B1: Transport Support Company
North-east Birmingham
The company employed around 3,000 people in a range of mainly customer service related
occupations: retail assistants, security guards, cleaners, car park attendants. Typically there
would be around 100 vacancies a year in these jobs as a result of company growth and labour
turnover.
There was recognition by the company that little technical skill was required in the jobs other
than common sense, following some induction training. The company was looking more to
recruit people with certain attributes including: a pleasant demeanour when dealing with
passengers, a capacity to follow instructions, no criminal record, a willingness to work shifts,
and good time-keeping.
Overall, the company found these qualities difficult to obtain in the local labour market despite
paying relatively high wages for the area.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
Even where technical skills were required in some lower skilled occupations
sometimes possession of these skills was not as important as more generic ones.
This point was made at a bus company in Birmingham where the training manager
commented:
“Customer care experience is probably more important these days than driving skills because
we’ve got the qualifications [i.e. qualified trainers] to teach people to drive, so we can develop
their potential to drive a big vehicle. What is more difficult these days is coping with the
customer. This is another major reason for us not retaining drivers. When you’re out there...in
really heavy traffic and you’ve got people screaming down your neck, it’s a nightmare; and no
matter how good you do the job, people love to moan. Unless you’ve got really thick skin and
let it all go over you, you can have really bad days. If people have worked in retail, they can
cope with it.”
The limited nature of some of the skills related to HtFVs can be seen in relation to
the skills specified for housekeeper in an old people’s home also in
Birmingham/Solihull, but typical of the industry across the three areas:

attention to detail;

noting what needs doing and doing it well;

an ability to prioritise work and not over-concentrate on certain things or areas
while neglecting others;

to work to a high standard at all times;
21

to be aware of hygiene requirements;

to keep all cleaning materials safely labelled and stored;

to maintain respect for residents at all times and be pleasant in dealing with them
and with colleagues.
It is a moot point whether the qualities sought by the transport support company and
the old people’s home - which were not untypical of other companies recruiting to
comparable jobs – are skills that can be taught or learned. Essentially the company
was looking to recruit people who demonstrated these qualities at interview rather
than provide training that would imbue recruits with timeliness, diligence, friendliness
and so on.
3.5
Evidence of mismatches in supply and demand
HtFVs can be categorised in relation to their causes in terms of a failure to attract:

any applicants at all;

applicants who did not possess the generic skills required (including tacit skills
gained from work and/or sector specific work experience);

applicants who do not possess the technical skills (or qualifications) required; and

applicants lacking both technical and generic skills.
Implicit in the above classification is whether a vacancy was hard-to-fill because of
skill-related reasons or some other factor such as terms and conditions of
employment.
Employers tended to define HtFVs with respect to: (a) to the quantity of suitable
applicants; (b) perceptions of supply from the external labour market; and (c) the
time taken to fill a vacancy. Qualitative interviews conducted as part of ESS2002
confirm that employers defined HtFVs in relation to (a) and (b)17. In general, an
element of each was manifest in employers’ reporting why a vacancy was proving
hard-to-fill. In addition, HtFVs emerged where successful applicants did not stay in
the position long, such that recruitment problems became recurrent and persistent
(this addressed more fully in the next chapter). Employers, however, had very
different conceptions of time when it comes to the determination of a ‘hard to fill
vacancy’ (at the extreme one manufacturing employer talked about a HtFV where
they had not been able to fill a job within a week). With respect to the time taken to
fill a vacancy, definition of HtFVs appeared to stem from previous recruitment
experience.
A summary of the skill mismatch between the supply and demand for skills is
provided in Table 3.2.
17
Hillage et al, op cit
22
Table 3.2
Extent of skill mismatches by broad occupational group
Occupation
Associate
professionals
(e.g. account
executives,
computer staff)
Skilled trades
(e.g. electricians,
glaziers, etc)
Personal service
(e.g. hairdressers)
Sales/customer
service
Operatives
Elementary
Skill aspect of
recruitment problem
Combination of
technical skills (e.g.
software writing
proficiency) and
business skills
Long-term prospect
Evidence that companies willing to abandon
recruitment rather than take-on people who do not
meet the job specification. Generally demand
outstrips supply over the cycle.
Technical skills (e.g.
glazing, electrical
engineering). Less
concerned about
generic skills in a tight
labour market
Employers in engineering reported that insufficient
young people were entering their particular branch
of an industry.
Generic skills mainly.
In many instances it is
not so much skill as
personal characteristics
or attributes such as:
general demeanour;
common sense;
diligence that are
demanded.
Employers tend to report that recruitment problems
are persistent and less likely to abandon vacancies.
Because employment is cyclical, those laid-off
during downturns appear reluctant to return to
industry
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
3.6
Key points
Difficulties related to technical skills arose mainly in relation to higher level
occupations. With regard to the lower level occupations on which many of the case
studies focussed, the demand was for a range of personal attributes. These were
difficult to find given the mix required, but it raises the question whether these were
really skill needs that could be overcome through training or learning, or personality
traits. There was evidence that the ‘right attitude’ was in short supply from many
applicants for lower level jobs by which was meant that the candidate for a job was
well presented (clean and tidy) and revealed some enthusiasm for the job on offer.
For some employers, if they could not find the skills they required they were willing to
either abandon the vacancy or leave it unfilled and continue with their recruitment
indefinitely (typically in relation to lower level skills). Others were willing to take on
people who were not ideally suitable – as in the case of the window manufacturer
cited above – but the demand for labour was such that someone had to be recruited.
This was much easier to do in relation to generic skills in lower skilled occupations.
23
4. Explaining recruitment problems
4.1
The reasons for recruitment problems
The previous chapter provided evidence of the nature of the recruitment problems
faced by employers in each of the three areas. This chapter addresses, from the
employer’s perspective, the reasons why recruitment problems arose. To provide a
context for the case study analysis it is worthwhile repeating the evidence obtained
from the ESS series of surveys (1999-2002).
Since 1999 the reasons behind recruitment difficulties have changed little (see
Figure 4.1). The percentage of recruitment problems that were skill-related (i.e.
SSVs) has been increasing. In 2002, 35 per cent of HtFVs were caused by the low
number of applicants with appropriate skills, up from 34 per cent in 2001 and 32 per
cent in 1999. A lack of people with qualifications has also risen to 12 per cent from 9
per cent and 8 per cent in 2001 and 1999 respectively 18. The case studies allow
further insights to be drawn about how recruitment problems occur, especially so in
relation to the recruitment process (which has not been a feature of ESS), and a
much greater understanding of the relationship between wages (and other terms and
conditions of employment) with the incidence of recruitment problems.
Figure 4.1
Causes of hard-to fill vacancies
Too much competition
Not enough people
interested
Company does not pay
enough
ESS 1999
ESS 2001
Low number of applicants
with skills
ESS 2002
Low number of applicants
with motivation
Low number of applicants
generally
Lack of work experience
Lack of qualifications
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Base: All hard-to-fill vacancies
Source: Employers Skill Survey 1999, 2001 (IER/IFF); and ESS 2002 (IES/MORI); Hillage et al, 2002, Figure
4.10.
4.2
Typology of causes
The introductory chapter, based on the previous research evidence, spelt out likely
causes of the relationship between recruitment problems and the level of
unemployment and in so doing pointed to the multifaceted causes of recruitment
18
Hillage, J., J. Regan, J. Dickson, K. McLoughlin, Employers Skill Survey 2002, DfES
Publications, Nottingham, 2002
24
problems, especially skill related hard-to-fill vacancies (SSVs). Building on this the
following typology of the causes of recruitment problems has been devised to
analyse the case study data (see Table 4.1).
The rest of the chapter explores the extent to which recruitment problems stemmed
from each of the reasons outlined in Table 4.1. In practice, the reasons for
recruitment problems are multifarious but the typology outlined in the table provides
a means to structure the description.
Table 4.1
Typology of recruitment problems based on case study evidence
Cause
External supply factors
Dynamic excess demand
Supply falling but at a faster rate than employment
Qualitative changes in the nature of demand
Internal factors
Recruitment processes
Relative wage levels and terms and conditions of
employment
Labour retention
Training and development
Failure to identify new sources of labour supply
Policy factors
The benefits system
Active labour market policy
Incentives to the economically inactive
Characteristics
Where demand for a given skill is rising faster than
supply in a growing sector of the economy.
Although employment might be falling in a sector of the
economy, supply of skill is falling even faster such that
there is excess demand.
Where the types of skill required in an industry or
occupation are subject to rapid change such that the
education and training system cannot keep up with
demand.
The means used to attract people to the company;
especially the openness of the recruitment process to
people who might fall outside of business or social
networks through which vacancies are communicated.
Wage levels, and other terms and conditions of
employment paid at a relatively low level so that the
company is unable to recruit and/or retain staff.
Where recruitment problems are a consequence of
insufficient attention being paid to retaining existing
staff.
Where a lack of training and development of existing
staff necessitates recruitment and/or results in the
workplace being unable to recruit at a lower level of
skill and train people to the required standard.
Where there is excess demand recruiting from
traditional sources of supply may exacerbate
recruitment problems. Failure to identify new sources
of supply (e.g. older workers) will therefore result in
recruitment problems.
Difficult to assess the impact of this on recruitment
problems from the employer’s perspective but was
mentioned in relation to recruitment problems by some
respondents.
New Deal provides a potential solution to recruitment
problems insofar as it supplies labour especially where
the skill content of jobs is modest
The pension system, for example, can incentivise or
disincentivise the economic activity of older people.
Difficult to assess from a case study perspective, but
older retired people mentioned as a source of supply
by employers.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
25
4.3
External factors affecting recruitment
All case study employers recruited from their local area. The definition of 'local area'
adopted by employers was variable and influenced by a variety of factors including
rural/urban location of the business (especially in Lancashire), proximity to the
Motorway network, reliability and cost of public transport, the type of occupation, and
the reputation of the employer (good employers can draw staff from further afield).
Employers, however, were also beginning to look further afield for some staff,
especially nurses who were being recruited in South Africa. Employers in East
London, especially in the hospitality industry, relied upon itinerant, transitory labour
to fill vacancies for a variety of jobs requiring low level skills.
The socio-economic characteristics of the immediate local labour market can affect
recruitment. Employers located in relatively affluent areas - where there was a
potential supply of labour from economically active people - suggested that HtFVs
occurred because the work was too mundane and low paid to attract these people
out of their inactivity (see box).
Establishment La22: Farm
North Lancashire
An independent farming business employing 50 core staff (and up to 20 agency staff as
demand dictates) located in a relatively affluent semi-rural area in north Lancashire.
The Personnel Manager noted:
“There is too much local competition with several other producers close by. There are
problems with transport (one bus an hour). The picking job is hard, physical work with a lot of
bending down. The work is wet and dirty and people with intelligence tend to move on quickly.
The hours of work are variable and subject to customer demand with the working day
sometimes ending prematurely at midday or being extended into the evening, sometimes up to
21.00”.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
The above example illustrates the multiple social, spatial and job-specific factors
which contribute to recruitment problems. Employers in less affluent areas with
relatively high levels of unemployment faced different problems as illustrated below
(see box).
Establishment La14: Primary School
North West Lancashire
A primary school employing 20 teaching and non-teaching staff situated in a disadvantaged
area with high levels of unemployment and families in receipt of benefit.
A welfare assistant position had proved difficult to fill. Qualities required for the post included
patience, tolerance, and the ability to respond to children. Experience was preferred but not
essential. The vacancy was advertised through the school newsletter and a number of people
expressed an interest in the post, but it was difficult to recruit someone who could speak nicely
to the children.
The post was eventually filled by one of the parents. The employer recognised that funding
was not available to pay the wages sufficient to attract a candidate of the calibre required,
possibly from further afield than the local community.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
26
Because nearly all of the employers - in a non-representative sample - had
experienced recruitment problems they tended to regard this as a failure of the
labour market to deliver the people (and skills) they required. This was often
presented as a skill problem. In some instances it reflected the absolute shortage of
people with certain technical skills in the external labour market, or with the types of
inter-personal and generic skills required. In other instances, however, relatively
poor terms and conditions of employment or insufficient attention paid to labour
retention were also related to the recruitment problems employers faced.
It also needs to be borne in mind that some employers, especially for vacancies
requiring sophisticated technical skills, set high standards when recruiting staff.
Indeed, some were unwilling to recruit if the standard could not be met. It is possible
to infer from this that the persistent recruitment problems encountered by some
employers were a consequence of the setting unrealistically high recruitment criteria.
But it also needs to be remembered that many employers were just looking for a
fairly basic set of generic skills related to numeracy, literacy, and time keeping and
found these difficult to recruit, especially so in East London. In these cases, where
other terms and conditions of employment were not significantly below the local
average, it cannot be concluded that employers’ expectations were being set too
high.
A number of other supplementary comments were made by employers about local
labour markets:

the impact of the benefit system such that unemployed people did not find it
financially worthwhile to take the semi-skilled jobs on offer (especially in East
London);

the role of the informal economy which acted as a disincentive to applicants
otherwise suited to lower level, lower paid jobs (especially in East London);

the competition from the education sector for younger recruits.
4.4
Internal factors affecting recruitment
4.4.1 The recruitment process
There is little recent, statistically robust evidence on how employers recruit staff.
Vacancies posted with the Jobcentre, although well documented, cover only a
fraction of total vacancies in existence at any one time. The Manchester Evening
News (MEN) Annual Recruitment Survey 2001, although based on one area,
provides a more comprehensive source of information about how employers fill
vacancies19. This survey revealed that employers used a range of methods, often
simultaneously, to communicate job openings. Whilst the most common method
was that of advertising in newspapers, a range of other methods were also
employed:

reliance upon word-of-mouth;

use of the internet (for advertising jobs and receiving on-line applications);

use of recruitment agencies to communicate vacancies; and
19
Hasluck, C., T. Hogarth, and M. Winterbotham Manchester Evening News Recruitment
Survey 2001, Manchester Evening News, Manchester, 2001
27

direct approaches to potential applicants.
The Jobcentre was mentioned by relatively few employers in the recruitment survey
(see Chapter 6 for further details). Commenting in the report, the authors noted that
the means of advertising jobs was much less dependent upon use of the Jobcentre
and newspaper advertising than was recorded in the Survey of Employers
Recruitment Practices in 1992, and a greater variety of methods were now used.
The complementary survey of job-hunters undertaken as part of the MEN
Recruitment Survey 2001 revealed that unemployed people were much more
dependent upon the more traditional methods of finding jobs than their counterparts
in work. For instance, those in work were more likely to have internet access.
The ELASU case study evidence demonstrates that vacancies for management and
professional occupations tended to be advertised through national press and
specialist journals, as well as using industry networks to communicate job openings.
Routine manual and non-manual jobs tended through the Jobcentre and/or local
press.
In many respects employers will tend to favour means of communicating job
openings that obtain successful applicants. In general, most employers found that
the Jobcentre was an inefficient means of advertising a job opening (see Chapter 6)
although a few spoke highly of it. Newspaper advertisements, in contrast, on a
certain day of the week, though expensive, were more likely to generate interest in a
job from relevant sections of the workforce. This is consistent with the evidence
found in the MEN survey. This is not to say that all employers found this method
satisfactory, simply that it was better than the Jobcentre.
Because the sample of employers in the case study selection were those that had
experienced recruitment problems a partial view of employers recruitment practices
has been obtained. But because they had experienced recruitment problems these
employers had engaged in a degree of innovation or experimentation in recruitment.
From this, two means of recruitment were reported as particularly successful: use of
industry or social networks to spread information, and, in large organisations,
advertising jobs in internal newsletters or bulletins even though the vacancy was
open to outsiders.
Importance of informal methods
Employers reported using a number of media in communicating a job opening – use
of local or national press, recruitment agencies, Jobcentres, etc. What was perhaps
most striking was the importance attached to informal channels to communicate
vacancies and the relative success of this recruitment method as reported by
employers. This was reported in relation to the demand for both technical and
generic skills with workplaces across a range of industries recruiting across a range
of occupations attested to the importance of this method. An example is provided
below (see box).
28
Establishment L18: Glazing company
East London
24 people were employed by the company; all of them fully trained glaziers. Over the past two
to three years the company had taken on more staff to meet construction demand in South-east
London.
Recruitment usually took place in September/October of each year since this was when
demand reached its peak. The company had found it a fruitless exercise to advertise in the
local press or the trade press, and thought it highly unlikely that the Jobcentre would provide
any skilled applicants. Rather, the company relied solely on word-of-mouth. Word was spread
amongst the ‘glazing community’ that glaziers were required and usually applicants were
forthcoming.
The company saw no need to alter this approach. It also led self-employed sub-contractors to
the company either to be taken on as employees or as sub-contractors.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
Many organisations reported a ‘refer a friend’ means of recruitment whereby existing
members of staff were awarded with a payment – between £25 and £100 in the
examples discovered – where an existing employee successfully persuaded
someone to apply for a job.
The example of the glazier above and the ‘refer a friend’ schemes reveals the
importance of social networks, but business networks were important too, especially
where more skilled employees were sought. The machine tools manufacturer in
Birmingham had discovered that another machine tools manufacturer was in the
hands of the receiver and was about to closedown. Establishment B17 then made
an approach to take on soon to be made redundant skilled manual workers (see
box).
Establishment B17: Machine Tool Manufacturer
West Birmingham
During 2000/01 the company had expanded rapidly as it succeeded in shifting its product
market position to a more buoyant sector of the machine tools market – smaller, lower-value
tools, produced in higher volume.
The company had experienced recruitment problems obtaining technicians, craft electrical
engineers, and operatives. Its main recruitment areas were the area immediately to the northwest of Birmingham city centre, but obtaining skilled trades personnel from that area had
proved difficult.
Through industry contacts, the company discovered that a machine tools manufacturer about
45 miles away was about to close down. Establishment B17 was able to approach the staff
and offer jobs to around 15 of them. Travel and relocation allowances were paid.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
For the machine tools manufacturer the use of industry networks to successfully
recruit staff was probably a unique event since it was serendipitous that a similar
company was about to make redundant people perfectly suited to the jobs available
in Birmingham. In other instances, especially for managerial, professional, and
associate professional staff, informal networks had become a more routine means of
recruitment.
29
A further dimension to the informal method was receipt of unsolicited applications for
jobs. In some instances this was the beginning of what became a formal application
process where the applicant was directed to a job advertisement and encouraged to
complete an application form or whatever formal process the company favoured. In
some instances the employer was opportunistic, interviewed the candidate and if
they were satisfied with their credentials, appointed them. But this was not common,
with most workplaces reporting a formal application process.
Unsolicited
applications resulted in some instances because a company had put the word out
that they were looking for recruits. An example of this type was given by a PR
consultancy in East London that was looking to take on an Account Executive. Word
was put around other similar companies (many of which were shedding labour) that
they were looking to recruit and this had generated a large number of speculative
applications.
Potentially, each informal method disadvantages unemployed people if they, the
unemployed, fall outside the informal networks, or are insufficiently motivated to
make speculative applications. This will be addressed in greater detail later.
Advertising internally
One might take for granted what is meant by a vacancy. In the ESS series of
surveys information collected about vacancies and HtFVs was analysed in the
context of external recruitment problems. But the series of qualitative interviews
conducted as part of ESS2002 suggested that vacancies sometimes referred to job
openings that were posted only within an organisation. The ELASU case studies of
large employers, in both the public and private sectors, indicates that vacancies were
sometimes advertised only within an establishment or the wider organisation of
which it was part. Internal bulletins or newsletters that were often distributed
company-wide across several establishments (see box).
Establishment La7: Hospital
North Lancashire
This hospital employed 600 staff, but was also part of a much larger Hospital Trust covering the
north Lancashire seaboard.
Recruitment was an ongoing process as vacancies arose regularly and had to be filled quickly.
Recruitment processes were systematic. Jobs were advertised internally through a twicemonthly vacancy newsletter distributed across the Trust and this had proved a successful
mechanism. If necessary, advertisements were placed in the local press, but only after internal
recruitment had failed to produce a successful applicant.
The hospital was affiliated to the local FE/HE Institutions and often took students on placement.
This built up links with future potential recruits.
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
30
Formal methods of application
There were some instances of companies preferring not to use informal channels.
An IT company in Birmingham/Solihull recruiting staff at a professional/associate
professional level reported that this process tended to bring about a flood of
inappropriate applications from people lacking both the skills and experience they
required. In many organisations the application form plays a major role in the
assessment of the suitability of a candidate.
Despite substantial use made of
informal recruitment methods, the majority of employers used an application form as
the basis for the initial sifting and short-listing of candidates. In general, the
tendency to use a formal application process was greater amongst larger
organisations, those recruiting technical skills especially in higher level occupations,
and in the public sector.
Employer assessment processes, based on the application form, were diverse. For
those positions not requiring specific technical skills, a coherent employment history
and relevant industry experience was most valued by employers. The application
form was used by employers either implicitly or explicitly to assess the basic English
(reading and writing) skills of potential employees. The interview in most instances
was the main test of the applicant’s suitability. This varied according to the seniority
of the job and varied from a application completed on site followed by an interview,
to more drawn out processes including second interviews and presentations to the
recruitment panel (see boxes below).
Establishment La1: Fast Food Restaurant
Central Lancashire
The company is a fast food restaurant in a seaside town. It has a wide seasonal variation in
demand with sales turnover ten times higher in July/August than in January/February. It
employed 45 core staff with a further 30 staff taken on to cover the busiest periods of the year.
The store manager noted that most potential employees would fill in an application form on site.
Qualifications were not necessary to secure employment, but good interpersonal skills, clean
appearance, and a positive attitude would secure a job. Most applicants did not produce a CV
or history of achievement, but if they did this was viewed positively. However the manager
stressed the importance of the interview in the assessment of the skills of the candidate and
their suitability for the job.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
The fast food restaurant was not overly concerned whether staff stayed with the
company for a long period. Most staff were required to cover the holiday period and
no more. The investment in hiring was consequently small.
Where harder to find technical skills were sought there was a tendency to have a
more drawn out recruitment process, such as in the example of the textiles plant
looking to recruit skilled sewers (see box).
31
Establishment La2: Textiles plant
East Lancashire
A textile company in central Lancashire saw the interview process as a vital step in recruiting
staff that would remain with the company. All short listed applicants were interviewed at least
twice with applicants for sewing machinist posts required to take a sewing test. Applicants for
more senior technical and administrative posts may undergo up to four interviews over a
number of weeks. Although the interview process was costly, the company reported that this
was a key factor determining its low staff turnover, employee commitment, functional flexibility,
and strong sales performance over the last five years. In summary, the recruitment process
made the process of recruiting staff somewhat drawn out and almost by definition the
recruitment criteria applied resulted in vacancies being hard-to-fill. But experience had shown
that this was worthwhile in the medium to long term.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
Where managers, professionals, and associate professionals were being recruited
the recruitment process could be even more drawn out including second interviews,
psychometric testing, and use of assessment centres.
Without doubt the recruitment process could contribute to the incidence of
recruitment problems. The more hurdles a prospective candidate had to clear, the
more likely that they would fall by the wayside. But the recruitment process is, in
many respects the manifestation of human resource (HR) policies that sought to
obtain staff of a certain calibre. In this sense, it is not the application process per se
that leads to recruitment problems, but the underlying HR policies that attempted to
balance a number of factors:

equal opportunities;

ensure that applicants possessed the skills required;

guarantee that recruits would fit into the workplace;

develop a workforce for the future.
4.4.2 Terms and conditions of employment
In many respects the wage levels as a source of recruitment problems, independent
of other causes, were more pronounced in lower skilled jobs reliant almost wholly on
generic skills. Here employees, it was reported, could move readily between jobs in
different industries in pursuit of higher wages. In general, wage levels were low in
these jobs with employees constantly on the look out to see if they could a little
more.
Wage levels, especially for higher skilled jobs, cannot be viewed in isolation from
other aspects of human resource development policies (see box).
32
Establishment B6: Specialist college
Solihull
The college had a staff of sixty. It provided training to the cultural industries. Over the past few
years the college had found it difficult to recruit staff to a range of specialist teaching functions,
mainly due to a limited supply of trained personnel. Due to funding restrictions it had found it
difficult to offer salaries that would attract London based candidates. London dominates
employment in the occupational areas of interest.
An improvement in the standing of the college linked to additional funding had resulted in it
being able to attract a far stronger range of applicants than hitherto for hard-to-fill vacancies
such that they most of the interviewed applicants were possible appointments. The standing of
the college was important in attracting good quality applicants, but additional funding also
allowed more competitive salaries to be paid. An improved human resource development
programme that allowed staff to engage more fully with the theatre through short sabbaticals
was also thought attractive to potential applicants.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
The example above reveals that wages are sometimes central to occurrence of
HtFVs arising but also that wages need to be seen in the context of other human
resource policies that help attract (and retain) people to a job. It also suggests that
wage increases alone, in a market characterised by excess labour demand, are
unlikely to yield an increase in successful applicants. In any case, attempts to solve
recruitment problems by resorting to wage hikes without an increase in supply this
will do little except raise wages amongst the existing pool of skilled labour in the
short-term, although in the longer term supply should increase.
Terms and conditions of employment go beyond wage levels; there needs to be
recognition of a range of other factors which will affect recruitment. Possibly the
most important are hours of work. The example of Establishment La22 above
reveals that variable, sometimes long hours of work are a disincentive to recruitment.
Shift work can also deter would be recruits. A bus company in Birmingham reported
that it operated split shifts, with seven days a week operation, in order to
accommodate peaks in passenger traffic. The bus company thought that this was
unpopular amongst the existing workforce, contributed to high labour turnover, and
deterred ideal recruits who might be currently working in the retail sector with more
regular hours of work. The company had allowed staff to swap shifts amongst one
another in an effort to ease the demands on its labour force, and mentioned this at
interviews for new staff, but could not guarantee that staff could work flexibly.
4.4.3 Labour retention
In many of the case studies recruitment problems were essentially retention
problems. Recruitment problems would be unlikely to be solved until more attention
was given to what might keep a person in their job rather than what might attract
people to join the organisation in the first place.
This is not to suggest that labour turnover was the only or the main cause of
recruitment problems, rather it illustrates that recruitment and retention problems are
different sides of the same coin. Where higher level skills were required by
employers these were much more likely to be a consequence of business growth of
some type. Several of the manufacturing firms interviewed reported buoyant
demand for their products 12 months ago, often in North America, which had
required them to take on new staff to meet output demand. Their recruitment
33
problems sprang from a shortage of skilled labour in the local, regional, and often
national labour markets.
In East London, and to a slightly less extent in Birmingham/Solihull and Lancashire,
employers typically recruiting to less skilled jobs reported that labour turnover was
the main reason why they were recruiting workers. This was especially so in the
retail industry which was recruiting mainly sales/customer service workers. Typically
these workplaces admitted to paying either below the average wage or more or less
the average for the area and job, and experienced a high degree of fluidity in staffing
levels. This could often be exacerbated by the need to meet sales targets which
increased the pressure on staff working on the shop floor (see box).
Establishment L7: Retail food store
East London
Part of a national chain, this workplace had the fourth highest turnover of 430 stores in the
chain at around 60 per cent. Out of a workforce of 55, there were currently 14 vacancies for
checkout operators, shelf-stackers, administrative assistants, and warehouse staff. These
vacancies had been open, on average, for eight weeks.
All that was required of shelf-stackers and warehouse staff was an ability to speak (but not
read) English. Induction training was provided over the first two weeks, during which period the
store was most likely to lose new recruits. Induction training taught recruits how to do the job.
In an effort to solve recruitment problems a two pronged approach had been adopted. First, to
be more stringent in recruitment. In the past the desperate need to find staff to work on the
shop floor had led to inappropriate recruitment that had, ultimately, contributed to high labour
turnover. Second, to pay more attention to ensuring staff are content in their jobs - by giving
them a staff uniform and locker when the start their employment and paying greater heed to the
training they might require.
The programme had been operation 18 weeks and had reduced labour turnover by around a
third, but recruitment problems were still in evidence.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
Linked to labour retention is the role of training and development which can be used
to retain people with an employer where there is some sense of career progression.
4.4.4 Training and development
For many employers the emergence of recruitment problems was not a new
phenomenon; employers had had time to consider how to respond to the recruitment
challenges they faced. An obvious response is to engage in training and human
resource development of:

existing staff in order that they might be sufficiently skilled to meet future skill
needs;

new recruits so that they can be taken-on with fewer skills than would be
otherwise acceptable;

as a means of establishing a reputation as an ‘employer of choice’ in the local
labour market.
It is with respect to the second and third points that this report is mainly concerned.
As described in the previous chapter many of the skills that employers found difficult
to obtain were of a general type related to personal attributes rather than the
possession of technical skills acquired over a long time span. This suggests, a
34
priori, that there was scope for employers to use training and development as a
means to solve their recruitment problems.
Induction training
There is a need to distinguish induction training from more substantive skills training.
Nearly all employers had an induction process although some employers had only
recently introduced the process. An illustration of what induction training provided is
provided below (see box).
Establishment La15: Textile company
Littleborough
A business providing textile coatings employing 144 people, approximately three-quarters of
whom were employed in shop floor activities.
In the past, new recruits had gone onto the shop floor without any induction or appropriate
supervision, with the consequence that recruits’ morale was weakened as well as being
potentially placed in danger of injury. Over recent years induction processes had been
developed such that new recruits had two days induction training, followed by a 12-week
probation period over which their work is closely monitored.
All new employees had a four-hour induction course which provided a background to the
company, an introduction to the site and health and safety issues, followed by some on-the-job
training.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
In most cases, induction training was not about to transform a recruit who was
lacking experience or the skills required to do the job into a fully proficient worker.
35
Training and development
Training and development, as noted above, potentially allows companies to recruit at
a lower level than would otherwise be the case. Providing training and development
can also help establish the workplace as the ‘employer of choice’ in a local labour
market. Job hunters can be drawn to a company because of the job or career
progression it affords its employees. This also has the potential to lower labour
turnover.
An example of the latter approach and its impact on the existence of HtFVs lower
skilled occupations is provided below (see box).
Establishment La3: Pub and hotel
East Lancashire
The manager of a recently opened pub and hotel employing 54 people reported no shortages
of people in the local area to able to fill the housekeeping and catering positions that
periodically came available and the positive impact this has on the business.
The manager noted: the high level of unemployment makes it easier to recruit a higher calibre
of staff. Recruitment takes place to cover for seasonal trade and replace promoted staff.
Lower grade staff see that there is an opportunity for progression. This helps to create a
positive working atmosphere because they can see that hard work is rewarded.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
Some employers had been encouraged to invest in internal resources to address the
problem caused by SSVs. A manufacturing business reporting SSVs for engineers
had recently appointed a training manager. The company recognised that it was
struggling to recruit suitably qualified engineers - who were increasingly required to
have a mix of technical, IT and customer relation skills - and therefore it had taken
on younger people and provided them with a mix of induction and training. Although
as a small company they could not afford extensive training (beyond providing day
release) it saw that the employment of a training manager would bring long-term
benefits and help to retain its low level of staff turnover.
A similar sentiment was mentioned by a plumbing company in Birmingham/Solihull.
Referring to the importance of training in alleviating recruitment problems the coowner commented:
The problem is circular really. We can only have skilled people working unsupervised for the
business, and we can’t really recruit skilled people because they don’t exist in the labour
market. If they are skilled, they are working for themselves. So, we have to find unskilled
people and train them up...The people with personal skills are usually older, but we can’t afford
to pay them a living wage, so we have to take on very young men who don’t have the skills but
we hope we can train up.
Whilst some employers recognised the value of providing career progression and
development opportunities, the majority of employers suggested that many
employees in 'lower-level' occupations were provided with little of no training or
development opportunities. Some employers appeared willing to live with the costs
of labour turnover particularly in lower level occupations. This is illustrated in the
example below (see box).
36
Establishment La4: Private Hospital
North Lancashire
One employer (a private sector hospital) with a recognised problem associated with labour
turnover suggested the company have experienced a number of problems with recruitment to a
variety of positions including nurses, housekeeping and catering occupations. These have
arisen partly because unemployment in the area is low and there are a lot of other jobs
available so it is difficult to recruit people. In addition the location of the hospital, four miles out
of town is such that private transport is necessary to get to work and the level of pay associated
with some of the lower level jobs does not compensate for the travelling time and distance.
The HR manager noted:
“...there is little prospect for career development and few members of staff remain for a long
period of time. If they stay a year the company views this as a good outcome. If the company
paid a little more attention to them it would probably get the staff required to stay longer'”
But the hospital was stuck in a reactive mode to the recruitment problems it faced.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
4.4.5 Identifying new sources of labour supply
The evidence to suggest that employers were willing to take on less skilled people
and train them to the required level was limited. This is all the more surprising given
that the skills required were often of a general type that could, to a degree, be learnt
by doing, such as the range of generic skills (see section 3.2).
This raises a particular problem for unemployed people where they have been made
redundant from industries that required markedly different skills than those now
required in growing parts of the three local economies. Of course this mismatch
often took a form other than a skill one. Some establishments preferred young
people, or were looking to recruit young women - ‘women returners’ - on a part-time
basis, whereas the ranks of the unemployed are often made up of older men looking
for full-time jobs. This is examined in greater detail in Chapter 6.
Employers with HtFVs were often trying to recruit a scare resource: skilled people
with relevant experience, and all the personal characteristics ideally suited to the job.
Amongst the economically active these people are likely to be already in
employment with a consequence that HtFVs arose from the difficulty of prising away
these people from their existing employer. Against a background of near full
employment this problem is unlikely to disappear in the long-term. The alternative,
which some employers adopted, was that of seeking out people who were currently
economically inactive, or recruit from abroad where this was possible. Examples
from the case studies suggested that some employers were targeting:

older, retired people. Where retired people applied for a job this was interpreted
as a strong signal regarding their motivation to work;

women returners who were looking for part-time hours in the middle of the day;

in the health and social care industry nurses were being recruited from South
Africa;

in East London some employers had targeted refugees who had been given a
right to extended residence in the UK. These were often highly qualified people
eager to find work.
37
An establishment in Birmingham/Solihull, providing residential care to people with
learning disabilities reported how it abandoned traditional methods of recruiting staff
and held a fair at a local church hall and was able to successfully recruit staff and
identify others who would be willing to help out when necessary. All of the recruits
had been previously economically inactive.
The leader of the organisation
commented on the fair:
It was a good experience; loads of people turned up, mostly women still at home with their kids.
We got six permanent people and six bank staff from this – all but one had no previous
experience and all were local.
4.5
Policy factors
Employers commented on a variety of issues that were tangentially related to labour
market and social security policy, mainly in relation to the readiness of the long-term
unemployed to take up work. Where employers had experience of the Jobcentre
and/or were recruiting to low paid, low skill jobs, there was a tendency to report that
unemployed people turned up for interview because they had been prevailed upon
do so to protect their benefit entitlement. In these instances, employers suggested
that this sub-group of applicants were not interested in the jobs on offer. It must be
noted that that it is difficult to verify the reports of employers in these cases.
A further dimension to the readiness of unemployed – typically long-term
unemployed – was their lack of vocational preparation. Employers reported that they
seemed ill equipped to meet the demands of some fairly low skilled jobs. This
related primarily to generic skills (e.g. numeracy, literacy) and personal attributes
(e.g. general appearance).
Issues relating to the recruitment of unemployed and long-term unemployed people,
are covered in more detail in Chapter 6.
4.6
Key points
Chapter three described HtFVs with respect to vacancies that attracted:
i.
no applicants at all
ii.
applicants who did not possess the generic skills required;
iii.
applicants who did not possess the technical skills required;
iv.
applicants with neither technical nor generic skills.
Types (i) and (ii) HtFVs were often a consequence of pay and conditions being
unable to attract staff of the calibre required. Typically (i) and (ii) were reported by
employers with vacancies for unskilled/semi-skilled jobs where the tasks could be
learnt by doing during induction training. In all three labour markets there was an
above average unemployment rate, but unemployed people were thought to be
insufficiently equipped to fill the jobs on offer, even though there was no real,
technical skill barrier to them taking these jobs. Language difficulties (especially in
East London), general presentation, and attitudes towards work (as reported in
relation to Jobcentre usage, see Chapter 6) were said to bar many applicants being
appointed. Travel was also cited as a barrier in Lancashire. In addition the strength
of the informal economy – jobs paid in cash - was mentioned in East London but
there is no way of verifying this claim.
Arguably, better pay and conditions would attract applicants of the quality required,
but this would tend to stimulate competition between employers for the existing stock
38
of employees. Employers in all three areas reported that there was already strong
competition between employers for staff hence the need to pay attention to retention
as well as recruitment.
39
5. CONSEQUENCES OF RECRUITMENT
PROBLEMS
5.1
Responses to recruitment problems
Evidence drawn from the ESS1999-2002 reveals that employers typically responded
to recruitment problems by increasing salaries to attract suitable candidates and
increase the supply of training. The case study evidence, as the previous chapter
indicates, suggests that the amount of additional training provided was quite modest.
Employers generally provide training to new recruits (induction training) and on-going
training to existing employers. But the evidence suggests that employers were often
slow to react to changed labour market conditions and that they tended to persevere
with recruitment processes with which they were familiar. There was a sense, as
pointed out in previous research undertaken in relation to ESS and referred to in the
ESS2002 report20, that some (possibly many) employers ‘muddle through’, that they
make the best of available resources but do not significantly alter their behaviour in
response to recruitment problems21. There are, of course, exceptions to this, where
employers alter their behaviour in a substantial manner. The example has been
cited above of the retail store in East London that decided to pay greater attention to
what made people stay with the company in an effort to solve its recruitment
problems. Important here was the decision to provide better induction training, and
provide staff uniforms and lockers on the first day of appointment. Other examples
have been presented in previous chapters of the use of training and development to
recruit and retain staff by offering some career progression. Other employers had
recognised the futility of advertising for fully experienced workers and accordingly
had begun to train existing staff (often young people) to fill anticipated skill needs in
the future. Some of the changes observed might appear small scale, but a new
recruit can attach a great deal of importance to them.
This chapter looks at how employers responded to the recruitment problems they
faced, and the costs experienced from not being able to recruit the staff they needed.
5.2
Understanding the real impact of recruitment problems
ESS1999-2002 highlight the impact of recruitment problems on organisational
performance. The case studies undertaken as part of ESS1999 illustrated the
manifold ways recruitment problems had an impact on new product development,
gaining new business, etc.22. Figure 5.1 provides evidence from ESS2001 about
the reported impact of HtFVs and SSVs on organisational performance.
20
21
22
Hillage, J et al, 2002, op cit
Of course, the employers providing a high volume of training and development and not
experiencing recruitment problems are not captured by the case studies.
Hogarth, T. and R. Wilson, op cit
40
Figure 5.1
Impact of Recruitment problems on organisational performance
Difficulties introducing new w orking practices
Difficulties w ith technical change
Increased operating costs
Difficulties w ith quality standards
SSVs
HtFVs
Difficulties w ith customer service
Withdraw al of services or products
Delays developing new products
Loss of business orders to competitors
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
per cent establishments
Source: ESS2001
Base: establishments with HtFVs/SSVs
The evidence drawn from the case studies about the impact of recruitment problems
is consistent with the wider ESS data. For example, an IT consultancy in
Birmingham reported that its business plan needed to be changed to reflect the
difficulties recruiting key staff. Many organisations, especially in East London and
those seeking semi-skilled labour in Birmingham and Solihull, reported that
recruitment problems had been long-standing and the difficulty attached to finding
staff was a legitimate reason for failing to meet business targets or not expanding the
business as desired. To some extent, impact was being measured against some
ideal standard, but it was little surprise to respondents that that standard had not
been achieved given labour shortages.
This demonstrates how expectations were being lowered in response to recruitment
problems. Faced with a shortage of staff, and no ready solution to the problem,
employers ‘muddled through’ doing the best they could with available resources.
The evidence indicates that the costs of ‘muddling through’ sustained in foregone
income are likely to be considerable.
5.3
Persistence of recruitment problems
The evidence indicated some cyclical effects in the setting of recruitment standards.
During economic downturns some establishments set higher recruitment standards
to reflect that market conditions were tougher and so all staff had to be more
productive, efficient, and inventive in their day-to-day jobs. Would be recruits
therefore had to signal that they possessed these qualities in addition to any of the
other technical or generic skills specified in the job description. Employers could
41
raise the recruitment standard because they perceived more choice in the jobs
market: people were either looking to switch jobs in order to increase their job
security, or were looking for work from the more abject position of being
unemployed. The net result of this was to ensure that employers’ recruitment
problems persisted over the economic cycle.
More persistent recruitment problems were also reported, especially so in the
construction industry. There was a persistent problem of recruiting young people.
Examples were also cited in the engineering sector of skill leakage. Once skilled
trades workers had been made redundant they were reluctant to return to the
industry. Coupled to a perceived view that young people were not entering the
industry, the long-term outlook was one of persistent recruitment problems.
Therefore replacement demand is significant but people are not prepared to offer
their services if long-term prospects are perceived as poor.
In the face of persistent recruitment problems, the key question is: how can
employers change their practices to avoid recruitment problems? In the case study
evidence, there were examples of workplaces abandoning vacancies after a period
of time. The software consultancy described above reported that it had given up
trying to recruit ‘business consultants’ and ‘solutions architects’ because the
characteristics of applicants was so far removed from that specified in the job
description. This eventually had to be incorporated into the business model since
these people were important drivers in the company and their absence had to be
reflected in the type of business that would be sought in future. There is a clear
implication here that such vacancies would not be posted again in the future and
consequently the company would abandon its attempt to move into a higher-value
added market. This has resonance with the low-skill equilibrium and latent skill gap
hypotheses. Abandoning vacancies tended to occur more often at higher levels in
the occupational hierarchy. At lower skill levels, especially in relation to generic
skills, there was more a tendency towards leaving vacancies open indefinitely with
recruitment on-going. This was especially so in larger workplaces.
Abandoning vacancies was an exceptional response to recruitment problems. The
next section looks in a little more detail at the responses of organisations to their
persistent recruitment problems.
5.4
Avoiding future recruitment problems
A number of responses were reported in relation to persistent recruitment problems.
These mainly related to:

‘muddling through’;

developing new means of recruitment;

developing the existing workforce to meet future skill needs.
For many of the organisations the main response to recruitment problems was as
mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, to ‘muddle through’ with existing
resources. This response was first highlighted in the case studies conducted as part
of ESS199923, and was again mentioned in relation to ESS200224. Some companies
were opportunist insofar as they recognised ad hoc solutions to some problems,
23
24
Hogarth and Wilson, op cit
Hillage et al, op cit
42
such as the machine tool manufacturer in Birmingham that was able to hire skilled
trades workers from a nearby factory that was closing down. But the overwhelming
impression is that organisations were quite conservative when it came to
progressively changing their recruitment practices.
Despite the impression of most employers ‘muddling through’ others had responded
to the shortages of staff they sought. Nurses, for example, were being recruited from
South Africa, although there is a history of recruiting from abroad in the NHS. Other
companies, such as the retail outlet in East London cited earlier, paid greater
attention to staff retention in an effort to lower the amount of recruitment they had to
undertake. As noted in Chapter 4, some establishments targeted new sources of
labour (older workers, women returners, etc.) to meet their recruitment needs,
especially in those jobs that required mainly generic skills. A manufacturing
company in west Birmingham reported that it now offered flexible hours of work to
both retain and attract workers. A fitter at this factory, for example, started work at
7.00 am and finished at 3.00 pm so that he could be at home when his children
finished school. The owner said of this policy:
If the kids are sick or there is some other family thing...you can’t expect one of your men to
leave their kids or their partners in trouble and come into work. They have to have the time to
do what needs to be done. It’s not a problem, and we cover for each other. That’s team
working.
Clearly there is a Work-Life Balance dimension to the skill problems employers
faced25.
Perhaps the most profound change some establishments had made was to develop
staff internally to fill skilled job vacancies that were likely to arise in the future.
Although ‘increasing training’ was mentioned in relation to 35 per cent of all HtFVs in
ESS2001, it has always been unclear what this actually meant in practice. For
example, to what extent did employers increase their training provision, and of what
quality was this training?
In relation to technical skills some employers placed considerable emphasis on
developing their own skilled workers, allied to policies to retain staff. At a small
engineering plant in Solihull, the Managing Director reported that training had
become increasingly important to his business because of the shortage of engineers
in the local labour market. In this particular case the company reported that it was
pointless to persist with the attempted recruitment of fully experienced workers when
there was an absolute shortage of them in the local labour market. Similar examples
were also reported in Lancashire.
25
Hogarth, T., C. Hasluck, and G. Pierre, Work-Life Balance Baseline Study 2000, Nottingham,
Department for Education and Skills Publication, 2001
43
6. UNEMPLOYED AND ECONOMICALLY
INACTIVE PEOPLE
6.1
Targeted recruitment of unemployed people
Employers in general reported that whilst they did not target unemployed people as a
source of possible recruits they did not rule out candidates who were unemployed.
One employer with HtFVs for associate professional staff said that redundancy was
an unfortunate fact of life in the IT industry in which they operated, and for this
reason they would certainly not rule out an applicant because they had been made
unemployed. That said, the actions of employers – often based on their past
experiences – lowered the likelihood of an unemployed person being recruited. In
fact, examples of employers actually recruiting an unemployed person were scarce
across the case studies. Reasons for unemployed people not being recruited related
to:

not using the Jobcentre (see below);

a feeling that unemployed people did not possess the skills they were looking for
(i.e. ‘skilled people are never unemployed’);

concerns over why a person had lost their last job;

a preference for a continuous employment record.
There is a need to distinguish between short-term and long-term unemployed
people. In the example of the IT company above, the respondent was referring to
those people who had been unemployed for a short-time, if the person had been
unemployed for a substantial period of time this would have affected their perception
of the person applying for the job. Job history, especially for higher level
occupations, was an important means of clearing the first hurdle of the recruitment
process: the screening of application forms for selection of candidates for interview.
Long breaks in a career history could disadvantage applicants at this stage.
Though the majority of employers did not specifically target the unemployed there
were employers who recognised that the unemployed potentially provided a source
of skilled personnel in their local labour market. For example, in the case of the
business supplies company in north-east Birmingham (see box).
44
Establishment B11: Office supplies
North Birmingham
The company was located in a local labour market that had seen many redundancies from the
automotive industry over the last 18 months. The company recognised that there were strong
potential candidates who were currently unemployed in the local labour market who had
previously been employed as engineers in the car industry.
The company itself had recently experienced redundancies itself, but still had a demand for a
number of electrical engineering jobs related to repairing office machinery. It thought that
electrical engineers from the car industry would possess the core skills to enable them to join
the company.
Redundancies in the company stemmed from a fall off in demand following the takeover of the
company. This had resulted in all expenditure needing to be sanctioned by the head office in
Europe. Advertising with the Jobcentre was free so the personnel department did not need to
seek permission to advertise vacancies.
Despite a perception that the unemployed provided a pool of skilled labour, the vacancies still
proved hard-to-fill. The company mentioned, however, that it would continue to use the
Jobcentre to communicate vacancies because it believed that the Jobcentre could reach a
large constituency of unemployed skilled workers in the local labour market.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
There was at least one employer that did target the unemployed. This stemmed in
part from the political, economic status of the organisation in the local economy. As
one of the larger employers in Birmingham it was involved in a number of
programmes and networks in the area to foster social inclusion. To this end it was
involved in establishing a nearby Jobcentre that would reach out to areas of the city
that experienced high levels of unemployment. The company would provide
transport links to these areas.
The examples provided above were far from typical. More commonly employers
reported that whilst they did not target the unemployed, they did not discriminate
against them either. This might be interpreted as a somewhat disingenuous
statement given that the overwhelming weight of opinion was that unemployed
people were unlikely to possess the skills or characteristics they were looking for,
and recruitment processes sometimes acted to exclude, indirectly, unemployed
people from applying. This is addressed in greater detail below.
6.2
The role of the Jobcentre
Respondents were specifically asked whether they posted their vacancies in
Jobcentres. Responses from employers across the three areas tended to report the
same experiences:

where skilled labour was required the Jobcentre was not considered as an
appropriate mechanism for recruitment;

recognition that the Jobcentre was a source of unskilled labour but that the
supply was of poor quality for the following reasons:

applicants often did not possess the specific characteristics the organisation
required (e.g. timeliness, good presentational skills, etc);
45

applicants appeared to employers to have little interest in the work on offer
with some employers reporting that they thought applicants turned up out of
duty to the Jobcentre;

applicants failed to arrive for interview;

where Jobcentre supplied applicants had been appointed they tended to part
company with the organisation quite soon afterwards.
In some instances, employers reported that their Equal Opportunities policy
necessitated them sending all vacancies to the Jobcentre. On the whole, however,
Equal Opportunity policies did not mandate that vacancies had to be posted with the
Jobcentre.
Occasionally comments about the Jobcentre were severely critical, especially where
employers thought that applicants obtained via the Jobcentre were turning up for
interview solely to maintain their benefit entitlement. A leisure company personnel
manager made the following comments on the quality of applicants that came
through the Jobcentre:
Its just a waste of time with these people. They go through the motions because they have to,
and they put in applications and then usually don’t turn up for interview. When they do turn up,
they often have absolutely no idea what the job entails.
Whilst this view was put somewhat fulsomely in the above example, similar
sentiments were expressed by a number of employers, especially in East London.
Nevertheless, there were examples of establishments found the Jobcentre a useful
means of recruiting (see Establishment B11 above). It is also a free source of
advertising vacancies, as one employer – in the community sector – reminded
himself:
As far as Youth Workers are concerned, this [the Jobcentre] is probably not a sensible source.
There is probably no reason why we shouldn’t put every vacancy in the Jobcentre. I’d be more
than happy to do that. It’s probably laziness that we don’t do it. It doesn’t cost anything. I think
we should do that, but we don’t tend to because it’s not an obvious source for us.
There was other positive evidence about the use of Jobcentres, but these should be
regarded as exceptional in the context of the case study participants. Some of the
largest workplaces in Birmingham/Solihull, for example, had developed programmes
in conjunction with local authorities and the Jobcentre to communicate job
opportunities to the local community.
There was also some evidence that the performance of the Jobcentre was
improving. A respondent from a farming business in central Lancashire noted:
The Job Centre is the most effective way of advertising and the company has taken on many
people who have had periods of unemployment. The service has improved over the past 12
months when there have been some reorganisations. One of the benefits is that adverts are
placed in a larger area (including Internet) which increases the pool of potential applicants.
They have also provided advice on the wording of advertisements and sent useful information.
The Business Link has also offered some advice and we have committed to the Investors in
People Standard.
6.3
Equal opportunities and recruitment
Recruitment policies, if they are to satisfy an equality of opportunity criterion, need to
make vacancies open to everyone who might be reasonably expected to be able to
fill them. This was patently not so with respect to the case study evidence. Informal
methods of recruitment have grown in importance – as the MEN Annual Recruitment
46
Survey indicates – and these potentially disadvantage the unemployed, as well as
other social and demographic groups. One cannot be certain about the extent to
which these informal methods disadvantage the unemployed other than to say that
some were based around communicating vacancies through networks that were
more accessible to those in employment.
Employers tend to concentrate on what works efficiently, but what works in a labour
marked characterised by excess demand will be markedly different to one where
there is excess supply. Employers in some instances had not changed their
recruitment practices despite rising levels of employment. Except in the larger
organisations with formal equal opportunities policies, little consideration was given
to the wider implications of a recruitment policy. Employers were simply interested in
obtaining a relatively limited number of applications from people who were all well
suited to fill the job on offer. They also tended to regard their current practices as
being as efficient as they could be. Recruitment practices in many cases had
developed through custom and practice and what worked efficiently possibly relied
more on instinct than any formal assessment of what really worked well.
6.4
Employer perceptions and experiences of unemployed people
Employers reported that they did not automatically rule out applications from
unemployed people. They had a set of preferences, as explained above, that tended
not to favour unemployed people but these would not be sufficient, they reported, to
stop an unemployed person being recruited if they possessed the skills required by
the company.
Those employers that had recruited through the Jobcentre and taken on an
unemployed person complained that they left quite soon after appointment. Other
employers were of the opinion, sometimes based on both fact and sometimes based
on anecdote, that the ranks of the unemployed were simply not suited to the type of
work on offer. Bars and restaurants recruiting waiters, for example, pointed to their
demand for young people which they thought were unlikely to be unemployed.
Similarly, a number of care homes reported that they were looking for people with a
set of personality characteristics typically associated with those already employed in
nursing ancillary jobs. These were not found, it was reported, amongst the
unemployed.
Table 6.1 provides an indication of the types of people who were eventually recruited
to selected hard-to-fill vacancies. Overall, they share a profile that is different what is
known about the population of unemployed people.
47
Table 6.1
Characteristics of people recruited to selected hard-to-fill vacancies
Job type
Waiters/bar staff (East London)
Characteristics of person(s) recruited
Young people, typically those already working in
hospitality. Often from Australia/New Zealand
working in England for a year or so.
Nurses (Birmingham/Solihull, East London)
Often recruited from abroad, South Africa
considered to be good source.
Nursing home care staff (Birmingham/Solihull)
Tend to target either people already working in
the industry, or target the economically inactive
(older women with good communication skills
especially sought).
Shelf-stackers in supermarket (East London)
Asylum seekers with permission to work, often
highly qualified. Older, retired men also recruited
and tend to stay with the company.
Construction company (East London)
Middle aged men with plenty of work experience.
Source: ELASU Case Studies (IER/PRI)
6.5
Employer experiences of New Deal
A small number of employers reported that they had taken on staff through the New
Deal. This is a non-representative sample and readers are pointed to the detailed
reports published by the Employment Service/DWP26. In the few examples where
employers reported that they had recruited someone through New Deal, the general
conclusion was that (a) New Deal participants were not always well suited to the job
on offer, and (b) there were problems associated with the administration required to
obtain New Deal placements. In some cases, despite contacting respondents via
the New Deal database, employers were not always aware that they had recruited
someone through the New Deal. This is not unusual in cases where the recruit is
unsubsidised. In these cases, employers’ views of recruitment through New Deal
became conflated with those of recruitment of long-term unemployed people.
6.6
Key points
Employers reported that whilst they did not target unemployed people for recruitment
to hard-to-fill vacancies, or vacancies of any type, they would not automatically
disqualify someone from being recruited just because they were unemployed. Yet
there appeared to be formidable hurdles the unemployed person would need to
clear, regardless of their skills, should they seek employment:
26
Hales, J, D. Collins, C. Hasluck, and S. Woodland, New Deals for Young People and the
Long-term Unemployed: Survey of Employers, Employment Service Research and
Development Report, ESR58, Sheffield; 2000; Hasluck, C., New Deal for the Long-term
Unemployed: A Summary of Progress, Employment Service Research and Development
Report, ESR41, Sheffield, 2000; Hasluck, C., ‘Lessons from the New Deal: Finding work,
improving employability’, New Economy, Vol.8, Issue 4, pp.230-234
48

recruitment practices that favour informal methods (word-of-mouth, use of
business networks) mean that unemployed people might never be aware of a
vacancy;

a disinclination to use the Jobcentre to advertise vacancies one of the principal
sources of jobs for those signing on the unemployment register;

a feeling that unemployed people would not possess the skills required by
definition of them being unemployed.
Generally employers were referring to people who were long-term unemployed, but it
was not clear how employers defined ‘long-term’.
49
7. CONCLUSION
7.1
Skills mismatch
The research was concerned with the apparent paradox of high levels of
unemployment and recruitment problems co-existing at the local level. Previous
research has indicated that unemployed people, especially where they have been
unemployed long-term, suffer multiple disadvantages in the labour market. In
particular they are more likely to have no qualifications and to be unskilled. Many of
the jobs that proved hard-to-fill were lower level jobs and were less about skill and
more about finding someone who could learn the job by doing over a relatively short
space of time. From a distance, one would expect unemployed people to provide a
pool of labour to fill these jobs and stop them turning into HtFVs. Evidence provided
from a non-representative group of case studies suggests that this is not occurring
for a number of reasons:

a reluctance to use the Jobcentre to advertise job openings;

a mismatch between the characteristics of unemployed people and those
characteristics required to find and retain employment;

feelings amongst employers that, at a time of high employment levels, that
unemployed people are unlikely to possess the skills they require (regardless of
application form details);

a dependence upon informal networks to communicate job openings (if
unemployed people, especially those with a poor employment record, are more
likely to be part of work-less social networks).
Some employers reported that unemployed people who had presented themselves
as applicants had no interest in taking a job and had turned up simply because the
Jobcentre had sent them along as a condition of continued benefit entitlement. The
‘benefit-trap’ was also mentioned. It should be noted that the research has no way
of verifying these claims by employers and they are presented simply as perceptions
held by employers which affected their recruitment decisions.
But all employers said that they would not rule out applications from unemployed
people, just that experience had led them to believe that unemployed people in many
instances would not possess the personal and skill characteristics they sought.
Employers, especially those in East London, were looking to alternative sources of
labour. Older workers, especially men, were being targeted by one employer, others
reported that asylum seekers and other migrants who had been given extended
leave to stay in Britain provided a stock of highly qualified people from which to
recruit.
7.2
Inefficient operation of local labour markets
What might explain the so-called ‘paradox’ between the co-existence of relatively
high levels of unemployment and HtFVs? HtFVs result from employers having a
specific set of requirements in mind for a would-be recruit. They are willing to lower
their recruitment standards to an extent, but they nevertheless require recruits to
meet the job specification within a short-period of time (the probationary period). If
that standard cannot be reached then employers are willing to let a vacancy lapse
because the costs of recruiting an unsuitable applicant are thought to be greater than
50
not recruiting at all. It should be borne in mind that the administration associated
with hiring and firing can be costly as well – as reported by several respondents in
larger organisations.
7.3
Occupational and/or geographical immobility
The evidence from Lancashire points to location being a source of recruitment
problems. Where employers occupy a rather remote location and have vacancies
for relatively low paid jobs, then the capacity of people to travel far to fill those jobs is
limited by the availability of public transport and the costs of travel. This is not,
however, a problem unique to rural locations. They may be more acute there, but in
Birmingham/Solihull and East London the ability of people to travel far when jobs are
low paid means that employers are also dependent upon the local labour market in
their immediate vicinity. This is exacerbated further when shift work is required
and/or early morning starts when public transport might not be available.
7.4
Wages and conditions of employment
In many respects HtFVs resulted because employers were not offering terms and
conditions competitive in their local labour market. If they raised their wage levels
they might have been able to attract labour of the quality desired and improve supply
over the longer-term.
Relative wage levels, and other terms and conditions of employment, are also likely
to be related to labour retention. An inability to recruit staff because wages are low
for example, is also likely to be related to problems retaining staff if better jobs are
available elsewhere. The report indicates that high labour turnover is a major cause
of recruitment problems.
7.5
Training and development
Training and development of existing staff was seen by number of employers as
being a means to avoid future recruitment problems. This related more to skilled
occupations, but not exclusively. Employers recognised that training would allow
them to take on less skilled people and train to fill skilled jobs. Potentially there was
a staff retention element to training and development insofar as it helped integrate
people into an organisation.
7.6
Other factors suggested by the qualitative study
The distinction between SSVs specifically and HtFVs more generally is not always
distinct. Where employers talk of generic skills, they are sometimes talking about
personality characteristics. It is exceedingly difficult, for example, to teach someone
to be cheerful where their natural temperament is to be otherwise. In this sense the
discussion is not about skills. But there is also a degree of crossover between
generic skills and personal attributes. People can be taught, for example, to be
pleasant to customers, or to communicate more clearly.
It was also apparent that there were few differences between the experiences of
employers in the three labour markets. Rural locations tended to mark out some of
the Lancashire workplaces, but the overwhelming impression is one of employers
across the areas sharing experiences, perceptions, and reactions to recruitment
problems. This explains the relatively limited reporting of results by locality.
51
7.7
Implications for policy
As the economy nears full employment there remain a substantial number of people
who are unemployed (many long-term). Employers with HtFVs are unlikely to recruit
an unemployed person even though the skill level they require is quite rudimentary.
It bears repeating that as far as employers are concerned unemployed people are
equated with the long-term unemployed. To some extent the argument is a circular
one. If employers were willing to recruit unemployed people then it is likely that
some HtFVs would not arise. The evidence points clearly to the need for labour
market interventions to assist the unemployed gain work experience since it is that
work experience that which will develop the range of generic skills that will gain
access to more regular employment. The case study evidence points to employers
wanting new employees to fulfil the total requirements of a job quite quickly. To do
this, employees in most instances will need to be experienced in the skills required
(which in lower skilled jobs are mainly generic). Many employers appear unwilling
to provide the training necessary to provide those skills, especially so if the applicant
falls well below the standard the employer requires. Though the report has relatively
little to say about the New Deal, it is this type of intervention that is most likely to
reconnect unemployed people with the world of work and improve their
employability. Much of the New Deal evaluation data points to this type of
intervention being successful27.
Employers report that they used recruitment practices that were efficient. This may
or may not be true. What is much more clear is that these recruitment practices are
far from open where they rely upon informal networks and where vacancies are
never advertised. This is not to suggest that all vacancies should be notified to the
Jobcentre. But there is the possibility that where vacancies are more openly
communicated the response might be improved with regard to both the quantity and
quality of recruits.
If the Jobcentre is seen solely as a source of applicants who are unemployed, and
given employers’ attitudes to the Jobcentre expressed in the case studies, its
effectiveness in filling vacancies may be threatened.
It should be noted that some employers want everything and then more. Their
recruitment problems stem from wanting a lot of skills per pound of wages paid and
there is much they can do to solve their own problems, such as lowering recruitment
standards and using training and development to make up the difference, or
recognising the deficiencies that exist in their local labour market. If they want
employees to work shifts in low paid jobs, what transport provision to they make?
Clearly the solution to some recruitment problems lie in employers’ own hands. This
is not to absolve individual employees or various intermediaries from their
responsibilities in ensuring that people possess the mix of generic and technical
skills that employers require and are likely to demand in the future. The situation
represents a challenge for the LSC and its partners such as Business Link, Small
Business Service and the Trade Unions as they seek to influence 'human resource
best practice' amongst employers to encourage transition into the workplace and
ongoing workforce development particularly for those in 'lower level' occupations.
27
Hasluck, C., ‘Lessons from the New Deal: Finding work, improving employability’, New
Economy, Vol.8, Issue 4, pp.230-234
52
The evidence presented in this report suggests that employers that have resorted to
increased training and development of their workforce, allied to staff retention
policies, have had a degree of success in avoiding recruitment problems.
53
ANNEX A
CASE STUDY ESTABLISHMENTS
Establishment
Industry/main business
activity
Employment
Size Band
Occupational focus of case
study
Birmingham/
Solihull
Establishment B1
Public transport
H
Establishment B2
Software consultancy
E
Establishment B3
Establishment B4
Establishment B5
Establishment B6
Establishment B7
Establishment B8
Establishment B9
Establishment B10
Establishment B11
Establishment B12
Establishment B13
B
C
C
D
A
D
B
H
F
D
B
Establishment B14
Establishment B15
Establishment B16
Establishment B17
Establishment B18
Establishment B19
Establishment B20
Engineering
Private health care
Pub
Specialist college
Construction
Residential care
Window manufacturer
Hospital (NHS)
Office supplies
Chauffeurs
Manufacturing (rubber
products)
Electrical engineers
Childcare
Furniture suppliers
Machine tool manufacturer
Foodstore
Youth services
Hospitality
Establishment B21
Finance
F
Establishment B22
Establishment B23
Establishment B24
Public transport
Engineering
FE college
H
C
F
Establishment B25
Establishment B26
Establishment B27
Financial services
Manufacturing (jewellery)
Finance
F
E
G
Establishment B28
Establishment B29
Establishment B30
Establishment B31
Residential care
Manufacturer (jewellery)
Private health care
Childcare
B
D
F
B
Secretarial, tax experts
Jewellery mounter
Customer care advisers, car
finance underwriters, asset
control clerks
Day support workers
Toolmaker, secretaries
Nurses, room hosts
Nursery nurses (qualified)
Fast food restaurant
Manufacture of specialist
textile products
Restaurant and hotel
Private hospital providing
acute psychiatric care
Building maintenance
B
C
Food preparation and service
None
D
C
Kitchen staff
Housekeeping and catering
staff
Plasterers and plumbers
F
B
B
F
B
B
D
drivers, cleaners, security
officers
Business development
managers
Capstan setter
Gardeners, receptionist
Grill chefs, waiters
Speech trainers, manager
Labourers
Housekeepers
Fabricator
Nurses
Engineers
Drivers
Design engineer
Fitters, machinists
Nursery nurses (qualified)
Drivers
Fitters, setters, machinists
Retail assistants
Youth workers, receptionist
Restaurant staff, porters,
housekeepers
Lawyer, mortgage sales
trainer, marketing
Drivers
Welder/fabricator
Computing teachers, careers
advisers
Lancashire
Establishment La1
Establishment La2
Establishment La3
Establishment La4
Establishment La5
C
54
Establishment La6
Establishment La7
Establishment La8
Chain of five restaurants
Hospital Trust
Nursing agency
B
G
B
Establishment La9
Establishment La10
B
D
Establishment La11
Youth and community services
Charity developing and
supporting employment
projects for disabled people
Country Club
Establishment La12
Family owned car dealerships
D
Establishment La13
Establishment La14
Establishment La15
Packaging consultancy
Primary School
Business providing textile
coatings
Facilities management
A
B
E
Establishment La16
Establishment La17
Establishment La18
Establishment La19
Establishment La20
Establishment La21
Establishment La22
Establishment La23
Establishment La24
Establishment La25
Establishment La26
Establishment La27
Establishment La28
Establishment La29
C
D
Kitchen porters
Theatre nurses
Carers with NVQ level 2
qualification
Part time youth workers
Senior management posts
Part time work (bar staff,
waiting staff, porters)
Sales management, IT
(Web/sales skills)
IT (Office systems)
Welfare assistant
Various semi/low skilled
factory positions
Engineers (Electrical or
refrigeration)
Engineers (commissioning
and workshop)
Electrical engineers
Production of environmental
control systems
Specialist engineering
services
Hotel Group
Business to business sales of
computers and peripherals
D
Specialist supplier to the
construction industry
Farm
Nursing and residential home
Manufacture and process
plastic materials
Masonic Hall
Security services to retail
companies
Producer of high performance
fabrics
Nursing home
District Council
F
Receptionists, management
Business development
executive, Accounts clerk
(part time)
HGV Drivers, sales staff
D
D
E
Mushroom pickers, packing
Maintenance man
Various shop floor workers
B
D
Food service (part time)
Security guards
C
Skilled machinists and
technicians
Nurses and care assistants
Professional occupations
(solicitors, housing
specialists)
Delivery and site
management
B
E
B
C
F
Establishment La30
Manufacture and assembly of
fixtures and fittings
D
Establishment La31
Learning and disability Trust
G
Establishment La32
Private Hospital
E
Establishment La33
Accountancy and consultancy
E
Nurses, support workers,
domestic, administration
Radiographer, outpatient
nurse, receptionist, medical
secretaries
None
Machine tool manufacturer
Research and consultancy
Architectural and interior
design services
Consultancy and standards
C
E
F
Skilled trades engineers
Personal Assistant (PA)
CAD Manager
F
Accounts and finance
positions, IT, consultants
London
Establishment L1
Establishment L2
Establishment L3
Establishment L4
55
Establishment L5
Establishment L6
G
E
Establishment L10
Establishment L11
Establishment L12
Law firm
Non-ministerial government
department
Supermarket
Solicitors
Manufacture of power supply
systems
Transport company
Retail, wholesale and delivery
Hotel Group
Establishment L13
Distribution of Funds
F
Establishment L14
Establishment L15
Establishment L16
Museum
Chain of restaurants
Airline
E
C
E
Establishment L17
Hotel
D
Establishment L18
Establishment L19
Establishment L20
Establishment L21
Establishment L22
Establishment L23
Establishment L24
Establishment L25
Establishment L26
Establishment L27
Establishment L28
Establishment L29
Establishment L30
Establishment L31
Establishment L32
Establishment L33
Glaziers
Snooker Club
Rubbish collection
Publishers
Foodstore
PR Consultancy
Accountants
Management consultants
Bar
Security company
Hotel
Food retailer
Engineering
Engineering
Hospital
Manufacture and installation of
agricultural equipment
C
A
D
B
D
E
C
C
C
F
D
E
B
D
F
E
Establishment L7
Establishment L8
Establishment L9
Source: ELASU case studies (IER/PRI)
Employment Size Bands
A
1-4
employees
B
5-24
employees
C
25-49
employees
D
50-99
employees
E
100-199
employees
F
200-299
employees
G
500-999
employees
H
1000+
employees
56
E
H
E
H
H
H
Various Professionals
Professionals (economists
and lawyers)
Supervisory positions
Support staff
Technicians
Drivers
Retail assistants
Senior management and
finance positions
PA's and secretaries, IT staff
and surveyors
Retail sales assistants
Chefs, kitchen porters
Various service staff (Part
time)
Management, chefs
Glaziers
Bar staff
Drivers
Retail assistants
Retail assistants
Account executives
Accountants
Consultants
Bar staff
Drivers
Bar staff, chambermaids
Retail assistants
Skilled trades engineers
Skilled trades engineers
Nurses
Software design and
software engineering, sheet
metal workers